Hard Edges & Baby Blues
by SummerRaeBenson
Summary: What if Elliot and Olivia had met before they became partners and kept it a secret among with other details? What happens when those secrets start unraveling with a new case and Elliot has left the squad? M for later chapters! Of course, it's E/O!
1. Chapter 1

**Please review! This story is like a few of my others, but you seem to like this theme. So, I'll take another whack at it.**

Olivia sat across the small café table from Fin as they watched their bait sit on the bench outside the bus terminal. Amanda was sitting at the table next to him. John was buying a coffee at the counter, watching for their suspect through the mirror above the cashier while Nick stood at the edge of the sidewalk pretending to wait for a bus. Their bait was a young male, Dale Harper, in his early twenties who had already flipped on his boss for sending young girls up a chain to him. Now, they were waiting for the next link to come to him, hoping to keep the chain going until they reached the boss.

Olivia brought her wrist up to her mouth, using her hand to 'itch' the side of her head. "He said we're looking for a tall, dirty blonde male around his age. He has a tattoo on the side of his neck of claw marks."

"No sign of him yet." Nick's voice came through.

"I don't know if he's coming. We have a younger girl coming his way, and she's looking right at him." Amanda said as discreetly as she could without spooking the girl. As she predicted, the young brunette sat down across from their bait.

Dale's eyes widened. "What are you doing here? Where's Eric?"

The girl shook her head. "He had to go to work. He told me to come here for him instead. What's up with work that you needed to talk to him about it?"

"He misunderstood me. I'll just have to talk to him another time." Dale stated before leaning closer to her. "You need to go. Run."

Olivia stood up. "Get her."

The girl frowned. "Dale, what are you talking about?"

"You need to run. Tell Eric we are nailed." Dale warned her before standing her up. "Go!"

Nick came up from behind the girl while Amanda stepped behind Dale. "I wouldn't do that if I were you."

Amanda started to recuff Dale when the girl started sprinting down the sidewalk. "Get her!" Olivia yelled already running across the street, Fin holding up his badge to stop the traffic from coming at them. Nick darted after the girl as she weaved between the busy foot traffic heading into Times Square. She started running across the street when Nick yelled out to her.

"Stop! Police!" The girl turned to look at him before a taxi cab hit their brakes, not stopping in time to avoid the collision. The momentum caused the girl to fly over the taxi and land on the ground between the white lines of the crosswalk. Nick held up his badge to avoid getting hit himself as he hurried over to the girl. She was groaning and gripping her arm.

"Don't you think you could've identified yourself as police officers sooner?" The girl asked before Nick helped her up. She let out a yelp as she held her arm against her stomach. Nick walked her over to the sidewalk where everybody else was waiting so traffic could get moving again. "Dale, why'd you tell me to run. They're cops."

Dale rolled his eyes. "No shit! I know that."

Fin took a look at the girl's arm, moving it slightly and watching as her face contorted in pain. "She dislocated her shoulder. I can pop it back into place once we get back to the station."

"Don't worry about it." The girl stated before going over to the traffic light post and adjusting her arm before slamming herself against it. She cried out, but quickly recovered and walked back over to them. "Now, can somebody tell me what's going on?"

"We can explain it when you come down to the station to answer some of our questions." Olivia stated putting her hands into the pockets of her jacket. "We're from the 1-6."

"Special Victims?" Her blue eyes widened as she asked the question. That's when she turned on Dale and punched him in the face, knocking him out of Amanda's arms and onto the ground. "What the hell did you do?" Olivia grabbed her quickly before the girl spit in Dale's face. "You piece of shit!"

Olivia cuffed the girl. "You just assaulted a man in front of five police officers. It's time to go down to the precinct."

* * *

"I don't know what this girl is doing hanging around Dale, but it can't be good. She has seven different driver's licenses in her wallet. All with different names." Nick said looking through the pile of cards that Fin had just pulled out of the wallet they had collected from the girl inside the interrogation room. "Cherry Matthus, Harley Daniels,"

"That's a girl's name?" Fin asked looking at the Harley Daniels ID.

"Alison Carrey, Molly Manson," Nick continued filing through the names.

Fin's eyes widened. "I wouldn't mess with a girl with that name."

Nick smirked holding up the next card. "Gemma Benson."

"Benson?" Fin asked grabbing the card. "Liv will have a fun time grilling this girl."

Nick chuckled as he read through the rest of the names. "Katey Natalia and Anabelle Morgan."

Amanda took the last card. "Anabelle Morgan? Isn't she that woman who died last month in the car accident near Battery Park?"

"Yeah, she was like seventy-some years old." Nick nodded before hurrying out to his computer with Amanda and Fin following. Fin went over to John's desk to show him the different IDs, starting him off on some sort of crazy conspiracy theory. Nick searched his computer until he found the article he wanted. "Here it is. She died after a drunk driver hit her car head on. The driver's trial is in a few months."

"I wonder what other IDs are fake." Amanda said mostly to herself.

Nick pulled out a DNA swab kit from his desk. "It'll be quicker if I just collect the DNA off of Dale's face."

Amanda grinned and stood up. "Fin and I will talk to her first."

* * *

Fin let Amanda walk into the room first before leaning against the wall, letting Amanda take the lead on this one. "You were pretty heated today. You weren't happy with your buddy Dale."

"He's not my buddy. Besides, if he's involved in a police matter from this unit, he has to have done something stupid." The girl said crossing her arms over her chest. "So, what did Dale do?"

"Well, let's get a few things straight first." Fin stood up straight and walked over to the table before dropping the different IDs on the table. "We need to know your real name and how you got these? These are professionally made."

The girl bit her lip as she looked through the different cards containing personal information for each name. "I'm not answering anything about the cards until I know why Dale and my boyfriend are involved with you guys. If it's important enough, I can help you and get a deal."

"Smart girl." Fin stated before moving towards the mirror, the only barrier between him and Olivia's office.

Amanda pointed to the cards again. "At least tell us which one you are so we know what to call you."

The brunette rolled her eyes, but looked over the identification cards until she found the one she wanted, holding it up between her index and middle finger for Amanda to see. "The name is Gemma."

Amanda's eyes widened. "Wait, you're name is actually Gemma Benson."

"Yeah, it's not that uncommon." Gemma shrugged before leaning back in the chair. "You guys look like you've seen a ghost. Look, you guys know my name. Tell me why Dale is here."

Fin sighed before speaking up. "Your boy, Dale, has been gathering girls to send up the line to a sex trafficker. We caught him in the act, but we don't know his next in command. When you came today, it was your boyfriend who sent you, wasn't it?"

Gemma ran a hand through her hair. "If I talk, what do I get?"

"Well, you need to help us get your boyfriend and any other information you know. We'll need to know how you got these cards. If you help us, we could probably overlook the identity fraud. Other than that, the assault charge will depend on Dale." Amanda explained.

Gemma sighed biting her thumbnail. "If I flip on my boyfriend, where am I going to stay? I can't go back to the apartment. I ran away from home when I was sixteen. I've been with him ever since then."

Fin nodded his head once. "We can talk to our Sergeant and see what she says. In the meantime, is your boyfriend at your apartment?"

"He might be. If he sent me to do his dirty work, he might be on the run. He could've gone to his step dad's in Pennsylvania. Otherwise, he would be at work. He's the one that makes my IDs down near Bubba Gump's in Times Square. We go to clubs every weekend, and I can't get in without one." Gemma said going over things in her head. "He wouldn't have any other place to go unless he has friends I don't know about. And, he probably does considering Dale was passing girls to him. Who knows what I've been getting into?" She covered her face with her hands.

"If you want, we can take you to the hospital. If it worries you that much, we can have a doctor run some tests." Amanda said picking up the fake cards, putting them into the folder she had brought in with her. "Just hang tight." Gemma nodded her head, her leg starting to bounce under the table.

Fin gave her a sympathetic smile and put a hand on her shoulder. "We'll take care of you here."

Gemma returned his smile, worry still filled her eyes, but she at least smiled. "Thank you."

Olivia stared at the teenager through the one way mirror. "Shit." She huffed out under her breath before grabbing her phone. She dialed a number she never thought she would ever call again. "Hi Kathy, I need to ask you a favor."

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	2. Chapter 2

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"Hey Olivia, we just caught another case. The girl we brought in today with Dale, her name is Gemma Benson, and she wants to get checked out. Apparently, she was dating Dale's handler for girls." Amanda said walking into Olivia's office. "Do you want me to take her once I get back?"

Olivia shook her head once, looking up from the new telephone number saved into her phone. "Um, no. I'll take her. Her name is Gemma Benson, huh?"

Amanda nodded her head before biting her lip. "Is there any relation there? You two do kind of look alike."

"I might have a lot of family for all I know. So, we could be related. I never really knew anything of my ancestry." Olivia said before looking in on Gemma who was wiping her eyes with her sweatshirt sleeves. "I'll take her to the hospital and bring her back."

"Alright, Fin and I will have our cells." Amanda said seeing a strange look in Olivia's eyes. She didn't stay to question it though. The woman was truly a mystery, and she had heard enough stories about her old partner to figure out why.

* * *

Olivia stepped into the interrogation room Gemma was sitting in before quietly closing the door. She sat down across from her and pursed her lips together before speaking. "Gemma, my name is Olivia. You talked to my detectives Tutuola and Rollins. They told me that you wanted to go to the hospital to have a blood test done."

Gemma nodded her head before taking out her phone. "Um, should I call my boyfriend? He told me to call him after I was done talking to Dale. He's probably worrying right now."

"Go ahead. Would you like some privacy?" Olivia asked.

"No, it's fine. It won't take long." Gemma said before dialing the number and pressing the phone against her ear. "Hey Danny... I just finished talking with him...No, he wondered where you were. Since you sent me, we just went out for a quick bite to eat. I'm going to meet up with some friends now. I don't know when I'll be home... Don't be like that... Of course not, I would never do that... I don't even think of Dale in that way. I didn't run away from home to be with him... I know. I love you too.. bye." She hung up the phone and slipped it into her pocket before looking up at Olivia. "He still tells me he loves me, and I'm going to get a blood test because he's trafficking girls. How sad is that?"

Olivia shook her head. "This isn't your fault. You didn't know who he was."

Gemma stopped Olivia from talking further. "That's the thing. I've known him for years. I don't know how long he's been doing this. I mean, he couldn't have been doing this when we started dating. Otherwise, who knows where I'd be right now." She paused for a moment, lost in thought, before seeing Olivia's eyes staring back at her. "Let's just get this over with. I want some answers."

"Okay, is there anyone you want to call? Parents? Siblings? A friend?" Olivia asked standing up and putting her hands on her hips.

"No, there's no one." Gemma stated standing up herself and shoving her hands into her sweatshirt pockets. "I ran away from home. Any friends that I have are tied with Danny or Dale. I don't know who's in on this and who isn't."

Olivia bit the inside of her mouth before nodding. "Alright, let's go."

* * *

Olivia waited outside the hospital room Gemma was in while staring at her phone. She was still working up the guts to hit the call button on the new number that she had memorized back at the precinct. But, it would have to wait. The doctor came out of the room and closed the door behind her. "How is she?" Olivia asked now focusing her attention on the white coat in front of her.

"I don't see any signs of STDs, but I'll know for sure once the tests come back. Other than that possibility, she's in perfect health. From what I can tell, all her shots are up to date. Blood pressure is normal. Now, you said she ran away from home. Do you know how old she is?" The doctor asked hugging the clipboard to her chest.

"Her driver's license said eighteen. I don't know when she ran away from home though." Olivia said remembering the Gemma Benson ID card that was sitting on her desk. "Did you see any sign of abuse? Any indicator as to why she would run away?"

The doctor shook her head. "I didn't even see a scar. She is sexually active, but you did tell me she's living with her boyfriend. There are no signs of trauma anywhere on that girl. In fact, she is pure muscle. I don't know what she's been doing, but that girl is physically healthier than any other girl I've seen her age." She stepped out of the way. "Gemma Benson, any relation?"

Olivia glanced back down at her phone. "I'm not sure yet." The doctor smiled sympathetically, as if already knowing the real answer to Olivia's choice of words, before walking away. Olivia let her finger land on the call button and brought the phone up to her ear with a slightly trembling hand.

The phone rang three times before a voice came through the receiver. "Hello?" The male voice said. He paused a moment before speaking again. "Hello? Who is this?" She could hear a slight movement before he spoke again. "I know this number. Liv?"

Olivia immediately hung up the phone and put it into her pocket, closing her eyes to stop any tears from falling. She exhaled sharply when her phone started vibrating. She knew he was calling her back, trying to get answers. She couldn't work up the nerve to actually talk to him. Knocking on the door, she heard Gemma tell her to come in before she stepped inside. "Hey, how are you holding up?"

Gemma pulled her hair into a ponytail before slipping her sweatshirt back on. "Well, considering I'm getting tested for HIV, I guess you could say I'm handling it well."

"The doctor said she couldn't see any signs of anything. That's a good sign. She'll run the tests and give us the results in a few weeks." Olivia said calmly.

"A few weeks?" Gemma asked wide eyed. She grabbed her phone and put it in her pocket. "Okay, I guess I have to wait that long." She sighed before looking back at Olivia. "What's next?"

Olivia sat down in one of the chairs. "Well, would you like me to contact your parents? You said that you ran away. They probably are worried about you."

Gemma shook her head. "I told them that I was leaving. They fought me, but I finally just said that I wanted to be with Danny. They told me that they could make me stay, but that I would just hate them. So, they let me go."

"That's why all your shots are up to date." Olivia mostly said to herself.

"Yeah, they kept me on their health insurance, but we haven't talked since I left. They moved out to Colorado where the rest of the family is. I don't know why they let me go or why they kept paying for my bills, but they did. When I left, they said I was just like my mom." Gemma smiled.

"Your mom?" Olivia asked frowning.

Gemma nodded. "Yeah, I was adopted. But, they said I was like my mom. I was stubborn and knew how to get what I wanted. They said she was exactly the same way."

Olivia felt the cotton ball in her throat getting larger. "Uh, did they ever say anything else about your parents?"

Gemma shrugged. "Just little things every now and then. They used to tell me stories about how my parents had to give me up because they were out saving the world. It was too much of a danger for me to be the daughter of superheroes." She chuckled. "You'd think that the safest place I could be in is in the car of superheroes, but that's the story they always told me."

"Wow." Olivia breathed.

"I don't know. They were probably just trying to make me feel better. For all I know, my mother was a streetwalker who didn't know who my father was." Gemma said sadly.

Olivia ran a hand through her hair. "Well, would you like to meet your parents? I can help you find them."

Gemma shrugged. "I guess it would be nice, but I have a little much going on right now to be focused on finding my parents." She looked around the hospital room. "This isn't really a great place to make a good first impression."

Olivia chuckled before nodding her head. "I can understand that." She stood up before holding out her arm. "C'mon, let's get back to the precinct. I sent a few people to pick up Danny."

"Alright, let's go." Gemma said before walking with Olivia back to the elevators.

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	3. Chapter 3

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"Are you sure you want to do this?" Olivia asked as she took the silver bracelets off of her belt.

"I can't come in here without showing him I'm on his side. This is the only way I know how to show you're not doing my any favors. I just hope you have a good grip." Gemma said as she adjusted her arms with the handcuffs around her wrist.

Olivia frowned, her eyebrows pushing together. "Why?"

Gemma let her hands drop in front of her, grimacing when the metal cut into her wrist the slightest. "In order to make this convincing, I'm going to fight like hell before you put me in that cage with him. I'm not supposed to know he's here." She looked down the long hallway towards the bullpen. "Okay, take me to him."

"I still don't know if I like this." Olivia said before taking Gemma's arm into her hand, preparing for anything that may come from this girl's outburst at seeing her boyfriend.

Gemma huffed out a breath. "You're not the only one."

* * *

"What the hell?!" Gemma shouted as Olivia and Fin held her down enough to keep her from kicking her legs off the ground. She was right. There was a lot of fight in her. "You haven't even told me why I'm here." She grunted when they pushed her inside of the cage with Danny watching the entire thing.

"Hey, watch what you're doing!" Danny barked at Fin and Olivia as they locked the two inside. He pointed at Gemma's wrists. "Uncuff her."

Fin shook his head. "The last thing we need is that girl to be back at us with fists. She keeps the cuffs on until she calms down." He watched as Danny put an arm around Gemma. The truth was that Gemma knew she would strangle Danny if she was free to get her hands around his throat. "We'll come back to talk to you later." He said before he and Olivia stepped out of the room, but remained around the corner in case anything happened.

"Are you okay?" Danny asked Gemma cupping her face in his hands.

Gemma exhaled sharply as she shook her head. "No, I'm not. I don't know why I'm here. Why are you here? What's going on, Danny?"

Danny shrugged his shoulders. "I don't know why we're here. I already saw Dale here. So, there might be something he's doing that he's trying to put on us."

"Why would he do that? He's one of your best friends." Gemma asked furrowing her eyebrows. "Confessing to a crime to frame us wouldn't make any sense for him."

"You never know. Dale has always been a weak link in any type of secret." Danny admitted as he moved her hair away from her face.

Gemma looked up at him. "You sound like you know what's going on." She saw a flash of anger run through his dark eyes before he quickly covered it with confusion. He was trying to play her again. "Do you know what's going on?"

Danny took a step back. "Why would you think that? It sounds like you're the one who knows something."

"All I know is that I was just pulled out of our apartment and handcuffed to be brought down here. They said that you were in a lot of trouble and would be going to prison for a long time. They also said I would be going to prison for helping you." Gemma said lying through her teeth. She gasped when she saw Danny's anger come through without any barriers.

Danny nearly yelled. "What?! They think that you helped me with a crime." He said picking his words carefully even though he was obviously furious. "That's ridiculous. I promise, baby. Whatever this is, I will make sure that you won't get hurt no matter what it takes."

Gemma was pulled to his chest in an instant, his hands caressing her head and back in a way to comfort her. He kissed the crown of her head before taking in a deep breath. "What are we going to do?" She asked into the heat of his chest.

Danny tightened his arms around her. "I'll figure it out. For now, let me take care of things. We'll get out of this together." He tilted her head up so that he could see her face. "I thought I told you to meet up with Dale earlier."

"I did. I barely sat down before he told me to run away. He said that he was in trouble, and I would be too if I stayed. I tried to help him, but he told me to go. I ran away before Dale was grabbed by someone. I guess if he's here that means it was the police." Gemma sighed about to cross her arms over her chest, but finding them still trapped together in front of her, between her and Danny. "What do you think he did to get in trouble?"

"Dale has always been a bit of a crook for money. Who knows what he would've done if it meant getting enough money to make him happy." Danny breathed before kissing Gemma's forehead. "I wish they would've taken these cuffs off. If they weren't cops, I would've slugged them for pushing you in here like that. Nobody messes with my girl. I was worried about you."

Gemma smiled slightly. "You know me. I've always been a little rough around the edges."

Danny grinned down at her. "That's the understatement of the century." He dropped his forehead to hers. "I called your parents."

"My parents?" Gemma questioned wide eyed. "Why did you do that?"

"Because, they have a lawyer, and they would do anything to help us." Danny explained. "They said that they would get on the first plane they could to get over here. They'll be here before we can even wake up tomorrow morning."

Olivia listened with a heavy heart on the other side of the wall. She could feel the anxiety already start to build in her stomach as Fin stood next to her oblivious to the world she was about to unleash from her past. When her phone started buzzing in her pocket, she ignored, but in continued to buzz. She took it out of her pocket and saw Elliot's name on her screen, the gray person with a question mark over the face a reminder of what their current situation was.

Fin just happened to see the screen. "Elliot? As in Elliot Stabler?"

Olivia nodded her head. "Yeah, I finally called Kathy and got his number."

"Well, are you going to answer it?" Fin asked staring at the third missed call from him, the next already coming in.

Olivia took a deep breath, exhaling slowly before giving a slight shake of her head. "Not right now."

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	4. Chapter 4

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"Alright, I know this isn't the best arrangement, but I don't have a guest room in this apartment." Olivia explained putting down sheets on her couch. She watched as Gemma came out of the bathroom wearing a pair of pajamas she had packed for herself from her own apartment. "We'll go down to the squad room early tomorrow morning. If you're parents are coming, they'll probably go there."

Gemma nodded her head. "How do they know where the precinct is?"

Olivia rubbed her forehead with her knuckle briefly before coming up with an answer. "It's a public police station. Any cab will take them there?"

"I guess." Gemma sighed before crossing her arms over her chest, looking around the room at the various toys and pictures spread around. "Your son is cute. How old is he?"

Olivia smiled glancing at the pictures of her and Noah on the TV stand. "He's almost four. I don't get to spend a lot of time with him, but he is my boy."

Gemma started looking at the other pictures. "Do you have any other kids?" She didn't notice Olivia's look of surprise before she found another picture. "Who is this? Is he Noah's dad?"

Olivia knew what picture she was looking at without stopping her movements to clean up the room. "No, he's my old partner. I haven't seen him in years."

"Really?" Gemma asked looking back at the older brunette. "You two look like you were married."

"That's what a lot of people said." Olivia breathed before running a hand through her hair. "Uh, here's the TV remote. If you can't sleep, just keep the volume down. If you're hungry, there's food in the fridge and cabinets. You know where the bathroom is. I'll be at the end of the hallway if you need anything else."

Gemma chuckled. "You sound like my mom."

Olivia's eyes widened as she shook her head once to correct herself in her head. Those words were not really directed for her. "Why do you say that?"

"My mom is always making sure I'm okay, even if I don't see her. Every year, she sends me my favorite things for Christmas and my birthday. My dad sends me good morning selfies every morning. In most of them, he's playing a prank on my mom." Gemma giggled before hugging herself. "They really are too good to me. I'm a terrible daughter."

"Believe me. I've seen daughters who are way worse in my line of work. You are a great daughter." Olivia said rubbing Gemma's back gently. That's when she noticed the small dark mark on her shoulder. "Is this a birth mark?"

Gemma didn't have to look at the crescent moon shaped discoloration on her shoulder to know what she was talking about. "Yeah, my dad thinks I have it because I always stare up at the moon." She glanced out the window. "I really do miss them."

"I bet you do." Olivia whispered before picking up the pillow she got from the closet and holding it out to Gemma. "Well, I'll let you get to bed. You've had a big day, and there's another one coming your way tomorrow."

"Thank you." Gemma said taking the pillow. "And, thanks for letting me stay here. I can only imagine how weird it is to have someone dating a sex trafficker sleeping on your living room couch."

Olivia shrugged. "I've slept with people much worse." She grabbed her phone off the table and turned out the lamp once Gemma laid down on the couch. "Goodnight."

Gemma pulled the covers up to her shoulders. "Goodnight."

Olivia padded down the hallway and sheltered herself inside of her room before crawling into her own bed. Plugging her phone in, the screen showed three more missed calls from the man she needed to talk to most but didn't ever want to hear again from just as much. Silently willing herself not break down, she called the number that could only end with a shit ton of problems.

The phone didn't even ring once before Elliot's voice came over the speaker. "Olivia Benson, tell me what the fuck is going on."

Olivia didn't even flinch at the anger seeping through his voice. "You better tell me why the fuck I haven't seen you in five fucking years before you ask me what the fuck is going on." She kept her voice hushed so neither one of the kids in her apartment would hear her.

"I don't want to explain that shit over the phone. You deserve better than that." Elliot gritted out through the phone.

"So, now you're concerned about what I deserve?" Olivia asked dropping her head back against the wall, not believing the bullshit she was hearing from the man she absolutely hated and loved at the same time. "When exactly where you planning on telling me why you left? Were you ever planning on contacting me? Or were you just waiting for me to contact you and show you that I'm the one with the balls in this partnership... not that I can even call it that anymore."

She could hear Elliot's breathing slow down slightly at the fact that she was showing so much emotion to him even though they had been apart for so long. "I'll always be your partner." His voice sounded defeated.

"You bailed on me, Elliot." Olivia said sounding equally low. "I've been through more shit since you've been gone than anything my mother or you threw at me. Even with all the evil shit that's happened, you leaving hurt more. I was being held captive by a sick, twisted bastard for days and it didn't hurt me nearly as much as when Cragen informed me you put your papers in." She took a shakey breath. "Then, you go and send me that fucking note with Semper Fi written inside. Do you enjoy what you're putting me through?"

"That is the last thing I intended to do, and you know it!" Elliot nearly yelled at her. "You don't have a clue as to why I left."

Olivia shook her head. "No, I don't. But, I do know that whatever it is... your explanation is long overdue. And frankly, I don't see how anything could make up for what you've put me through. I shouldn't have even called you."

"Yet, you did." Elliot breathed. "I know you would only call Kathy to get to me if you really needed my help."

"Well, I've done a lot of things on my own without your help. I'll just add this to the list. Forget I called you. I don't need anything from you." Olivia sighed turning out her light.

Elliot began yelling at her again. "Don't you dare fucking hang up the phone. I will come to your apartment if that's what it takes. You need me, Olivia."

Olivia chuckled sadly. "You don't even know where I live anymore. And, no. I may have needed you five years ago,... but that was a different girl. I'm a big girl, Stabler. I can take care of myself." Without a word of notice, she hung up the phone and silenced it. Putting the device face down, she could only see a slice of light seep out from under it as her phone silently rang while fatigue finally took over.

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	5. Chapter 5

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Olivia took a quiet breath as the elevator doors opened, and Gemma's parents sitting on the bench at the end of the hallway were revealed. It barely took a moment for the disconnected family to catch each others' gazes. Gemma bolted from the elevator at full speed towards her parents. Her mother was off of the bench in a flash before wrapping her arms around her. Her father smiled at the two of them before wrapping his arms around them as well.

Taking her step off of the claustrophobic human dumbwaiter, Olivia watched as the three of them reunited after three years of being apart.

"Look at you. God, I have missed you so much." Her mother smiled wiping tears away from both of their faces. "I'm so happy to see you, Darling."

"I missed you too, Mom." Gemma breathed before turning to her father. She saw the stern look on his face and looked down at his shoes. "Are you mad at me for leaving?"

Her father wrapped his arms around her and kissed the crown of her head. "I'm really happy to see you, Pumpkin."

Gemma grinned wrapping herself around her father tightly. "Me too."

When Olivia's eyes met with Gemma's mother's, she walked up to them. "It's good to see you, Mya." She looked at Gemma's father and smiled awkwardly at his shocked expression. "Dave."

"You know my parents?" Gemma asked glancing between the three adults.

"I had a car sent to the airport to pick them up and bring them here. I know you were worried about them getting lost in New York." Olivia explained before extending her hand. "I'm Sergeant Olivia Benson." She saw the look of surprise come over Gemma's face, speaking again to distract her from the slip of her name. "Why don't I show you to a room that would be more private for you guys to talk."

"Um, that would be nice. Thank you... Sergeant." Dave smiled before Olivia led them back to the interrogation rooms, letting them slip into one off of her office. Gemma walked inside with Mya following. "I'll be there in a minute. I just want to thank everyone properly for reuniting us with our daughter."

Olivia bit her lip, silently cursing herself. She closed the door to the interrogation room before turning to Dave. "Look-"

"You haven't told Gemma the truth yet?" Dave asked with raised eyebrows.

Olivia sighed after a beat of silence. "It's not as easy as you think. Things are complicated."

Dave smiled crossing his arms over his chest. "If I remember right, 'complicated' is what got you into this mess. What's complicated this time?"

"Well, the circumstances are still difficult to explain to a teenager." Olivia retorted running a hand through her hair. "And,... I haven't seen Elliot in five years. He retired. He turned in his papers without telling me, and I haven't heard from him since. He ignored my calls and my texts. He changed his number because I was filling up his voicemail box." She leaned against the wall, looking in on the reunited mother and daughter. "I got his new number from his ex-wife a few days ago. I called, but I still haven't told him what's going on. I'm too mad at him... and at myself." She smiled sadly up at the man in front of her. "She doesn't deserve this. We fucked up her life before it even started. She deserves better, Dave."

"She deserves to know that you are her mother, Olivia." Dave whispered before kissing her head. "I love that girl more than anything in the world. I'm happy I got to raise her, but... I'm also sad that she didn't get to know her mother who obviously is a lot stronger than she gives herself credit for." He put a hand on her shoulder. "How is Noah doing?"

"He's good." Olivia grinned nodding her head. "For what he's been through in his life, he's a strong little boy."

Dave smiled at the beaming mother. "That reminds me." He pulled out a paper from his shirt pocket. "I believe that you let my last check expire."

Olivia looked at the check and shook her head. "I told you. I don't need it. I have the money for it."

"You were kidnapped, tortured, and assaulted by a man for three days. You are the mother of that beautiful girl I am lucky enough to call my daughter. I am not letting you pay for your therapy all by yourself. If you don't take it, I will go to your bank and deposit it myself." Dave said waving the folded paper around.

Olivia snatched it from his fingers and shook her head. "You always were determined."

Dave chuckled. "How do you think I survive Mya? I love her, but she's one stubborn piece of work." Olivia laughed nodding her head in agreement. "I'll let you get to work, but think about how you are going to tell Gemma. It's better it comes from you than her finding out suddenly."

Olivia nodded her head again. "I will. Thanks Dave." She smiled when he walked around her, kissing the back of her head, before slipping into the interrogation room. She watched as he hugged Gemma again, making the ache in her chest stronger.

"Hey Liv!" Fin called from the squad room. "I got someone out here who needs to be questioned. I figured you'd want to take this one."

"Why's that?" Olivia asked walking towards him.

"Because, we have a lot to talk about." She heard his voice. He stood up from the chair beside Fin's desk, his hands cuffed behind his back. "Hey Liv." He breathed, his voice and eyes softening when seeing her.

Olivia felt the tears building behind her eyes as her chest constricted painfully. "Elliot."

* * *

"Thanks for making him take the cuffs off of me." Elliot said rubbings his wrists as they both entered her office. "Congratulations on the promotion."

Olivia sighed. "Stop with the bullshit. Either explain yourself or leave."

Elliot frowned. "I know I owe you an explanation, but I'd like to know what was so God damned important that you had to call Kathy to get to me."

"Well, you got a new number. So, that's why I had to call your God damned ex-wife." Olivia snapped before exhaling slowly. "I don't owe you anything until you tell me why you left me without a single word five years ago."

She saw his mouth open before his eyes looked passed her to the glass that led to the interrogation room. "That's her." Elliot whispered staring into the interrogation room. "This is why you called me."

"Yeah, I wasn't sure what to do. I never really expected to be in this situation." Olivia huffed going to sit at her desk.

Elliot continued to look in at the small family reunion. "Does she know?"

Olivia pursed her lips together. "I haven't told her. Neither have they."

"And, why the hell not?" Elliot asked turning his gaze towards her.

"Because, she is in a shit ton of problems right now. She has her own drama. I don't think we need to add to it by telling her who her parents are." Olivia shouted at him as she stood back up and made her place behind the desk. "That can of worms shouldn't be opened until all of our ducks are in a row."

Elliot furrowed his eyebrows. "You're just scared to tell her the truth."

"You're damn right I'm scared!" Olivia snapped. She saw his eyes absorb the surprise of her outburst before he regained his composure. "How are we going to tell that girl that she was given up for adoption because her parents were too scared shitless to deal with what they had done. An affair, a broken marriage, kids to split. You and I both know that the collateral damage saved won't make the news to her any better."

Elliot walked over to the other side of the desk, nearly staring daggers at her. "I'm sure that a girl like that would understand. I'm sure OUR daughter would understand that."

Olivia shook her head. "And, what are we going to tell her when she asks why we've been lying about her existence for the past nineteen years? Why your wife doesn't know about her? Why her siblings don't know about her? Why we were so God damned selfish not to give her a chance just so we could save face? Tell me that one."

Elliot slowly sat down, watching Olivia cross her arms over her chest. "We still have to tell her at some point, Liv. She is our daughter."

"I know that. But at this moment, she's not our daughter." Olivia said feeling the knife twist through her very scarred heart. "She's their daughter. We're nothing but a donor and surrogate to her."

"She's our blood." Elliot breathed.

Olivia sat down in her chair, playing with her fingers. "I'm well aware that she's our blood. You don't even need a blood test to prove it. One look at her and you can see it." She looked right at him, finally taking in his appearance. "But, you and I both know that it takes more than blood to make you a parent." Her eyes glazed over as her own statement registered in her head. "I don't want to tell her anything until we get our shit straightened out. The last thing she needs is parents who don't get along because of their own stupid decisions. If we are going to shake up her life, we can at least have our shit together."

Elliot sighed leaning back in his chair. "I'd have to agree with you on that." He looked at the name plate on her desk, engraved 'Sergeant Olivia Benson'. It gave him a sense of pride to know that he got to work with her and show her what it took to be a detective. At the same time, it caused his heart to twist painfully knowing that he wasn't at her side when she received the promotion, probably the proudest moment of her life. "Alright, the reason I left..."

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	6. Chapter 6

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Olivia rubbed her eyes with her knuckles after listening to Elliot explain himself. "How long?"

"For what? The divorce or sobriety?" Elliot asked.

"Pick one." Olivia shrugged shaking her head.

Elliot sighed relaxing into the leather chair across from her desk. "We've been divorced for four years. I have been sober for just a little over a year. I go to meetings to help with that and my anger issues."

"They haven't really helped your anger issues." Olivia huffed.

Elliot smiled. "Believe it or not, I've been doing really well with that. You just happen to be someone who can unravel me in a matter of seconds."

Olivia finally looked up at her, a small smile gracing her features. "Is that a good or a bad thing?"

"Still deciding." Elliot breathed before resting his arms on her desk, leaning closer to her. "I'm really sorry for leaving you, for betraying you, for just putting you through hell. I am prepared to do whatever it takes to make this better between us. I knew that putting you through my issues would only end whatever friendship we had. I saw how you became unattached to your mother when she became drunk. I didn't want to see you do that to me. I was selfish."

"I'm still mad." Olivia stated running a hand through her hair.

Elliot nodded once. "I don't blame you. I-" He was cut off when the office door suddenly opened.

"Benson?" Gemma asked storming into the office with Dave and Mya rushing after her. "Benson! You're last name is Benson."

Olivia chewed on the inside of her lip, glancing at Elliot for any type of answer. "Uh, yes, it is." She looked past her to Dave and Mya. Both of them shook their heads. "I'm guessing you want to talk."

"Talk? You've gotta be fucking kidding me." Gemma spat before running out of the office.

"What happened?" Olivia asked.

"Once you said you're last name was Benson, she figured it out. She isn't blind." Dave said before seeing Gemma disappear into the hallway. "We should probably go after her."

Olivia stood up. "I'll go. I did this." She saw Elliot stand up. "What are you doing?"

"I'm in this as much as you are." Elliot replied before hurrying out of the office with her. "Stairs?"

"Yep." Olivia nodded once before the bypassed the used elevator to enter the stair well.

* * *

"Gemma!" Olivia called out seeing the young brunette walking down the empty sidewalk in the rain. "Gemma, stop!"

"Go away." Gemma said wrapping her arms around herself. She whipped around when she felt a hand on her shoulder. "Leave me alone!"

Olivia put up her hands. "Listen to me. I wanted to tell you, but you had a lot going on in the past few days. I didn't want to add to your plate by telling you that I was your mother and I gave you up. Putting that boatload of information on you would've just stressed you to your breaking point."

"You don't have a clue as to what could break me." Gemma stated. "You don't know me. Like you said, you gave me up. What I can handle is for me to decide." She looked at Elliot. "I thought you hadn't been around for years."

Elliot scratched the back of his head. "Yeah, I haven't. But, I'm here because I'm the man who gave you up."

Gemma's eyebrows raised. "You're my father?"

"It would appear that way." Elliot sighed putting his hands into his jacket pockets. "I get you are mad about this. I can't even begin to imagine what is going through your head. But, could we just sit down and talk about this like adults? We can tell you whatever you want to know."

Olivia glanced back at Elliot before seeing Gemma debating whether or not to run or follow. "We don't have to talk about it in there," she said pointing towards the precinct. "We can go anywhere you want."

Gemma bit her lip before looking at the oncoming traffic, dozens of taxis waiting for a paying customer. "I'll talk to you on one condition."

"Anything." Olivia breathed clasping her hands together.

"I get to watch you question Danny."

* * *

Olivia sat down across from Danny, his handcuffed wrists resting between them. His night in the holding cell obviously hadn't been pleasant with the way his black hair was sticking up in all different directions. There was a small cut on his jaw, the blood crusting over his stubble. He continued to clench and unclench in jaw as he breathed through his nose.

"I assume you know why you're here." Olivia said opening a file in front of her and spreading out half a dozen photos of girls, drugged and barely alive. "Do you know these girls?"

"Look lady, I have no idea what you're talking about." Danny said leaning back in his chair.

Olivia pushed one of the photos closer to him. "It's sergeant."

"Well, sergeant, I don't know why I'm here." Danny stated pushing the picture back over to her. "Where is Gemma? I wanna see her."

Olivia pursed her lips together. "Another detective is talking to her about her charges."

Danny's eyes widened. "Her charges? She didn't do anything wrong."

"Not according to your friend Dale. He says that you're his Lord of a boss who helps him traffic girls around the city for loads of cash." Olivia said before holding up another photo, this one being a photo of Danny standing outside of a club with a wad of cash in his hands. "Care to explain this?"

"It was just a scam. People outside of the club wanted to get in. I let them in for a small fee." Danny said. "It helps pay the bills."

Olivia nodded once. "How else do you help pay the bills?"

Danny rolled his eyes. "I work at a locker downtown. I go in early and come home when it's still light outside. I don't get to sleep in with my baby girl, but I make sure that I'm home every night to go to bed with her."

"Your baby girl?" Olivia questioned.

"Yes, Gemma is my number one girl. She is the only girl for me. I would die before I let anything hurt her." Danny stated punching his index finger into the metal of the table. "Whatever you think I did, you're wrong. I didn't do anything and my girl certainly didn't."

"We found all these girls in a house a few blocks away from the club you were outside of in this picture. Dale ties you to all of this." Olivia said pointing to each picture. "What makes you think DNA won't?"

Danny shoved the pictures aside. "I don't care what Dale says. He's a money-sucking coward. You can't prove I did any of this, because I didn't. Whatever DNA you have won't be mine. I have never cheated on Gemma. Not once. I can't say the same for her, but I love her. I would never put her through that kind of pain."

Olivia raised her eyebrows. "Gemma cheated on you."

"... In her defense, she was trying to save us." Danny said looking down at his hands. "I don't care what you believe, sergeant. I love that girl, and I haven't done anything wrong." Danny said, sounding defeated.

Olivia turned in her chair to look at the one way mirror, knowing that her blood was standing on the other side staring right back at her.

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	7. Chapter 7

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Olivia walked out of the interrogation room, meeting Elliot and Gemma on the other side of the one way mirror. "He's telling the truth." Gemma blurted out.

"What are you talking about?" Olivia asked closing the file in her hands. "Dale has a whole filing system of when and where he and Danny met up to do business. Your boyfriend is going to prison."

Gemma shook her head. "But, I know him. He wouldn't do this."

"Why wouldn't he?" Olivia asked.

"Because, I-" Gemma began, but bit her tongue realizing the words that were about to leave her mouth. "He just wouldn't."

Olivia squinted. "I'm going to need more than that." She pulled a picture out of the file, a bunch of girls listed on it who had been missing: ones Dale had named. "All these girls are being sent around the city, rented out to perverts who abuse them."

Gemma pushed the photo away. "I'm well aware of what they go through." She huffed out a breath before crossing her arms over her chest. "Danny would never let a girl go through what they are going through... what I went through. If you have the evidence to prove he's involved, show me."

"Woah, hold the phone." Elliot interrupted. "What exactly did you go through?"

Gemma waved him off. "That's not important right now." She turned back to Olivia. "What do you have on Danny?"

Olivia glanced at a frustrated Elliot as she pulled another photo out of the folder, this one of Danny handing over a large stack of money to an older gentleman. "This is-"

"Jimmy Kirk." Gemma breathed, taking the photo into her hands. "I know him." She looked down at the date in the bottom right corner. "This was last year."

Olivia took the photo back. "Yes, we don't know if this is the first photo though."

"This is the only photo." Gemma stated before turning the photo back to Olivia and pointing to the black car in the background. "I'm in that car. Danny wasn't joining Jimmy. He was buying me out of the business."

Olivia's eyes widened before she remembered her conversation with Dale that morning. "Then, why does Dale connect Danny to all of this? He even talked about Danny making a deal at a bar down the street from your apartment Tuesday night."

Gemma froze. "Tuesday night?"

"Yes." Olivia confirmed.

Gemma shook her head. "We were down in Florida on Tuesday. I can show you our flight tickets."

"Florida? I just heard Danny talk about working all day to make ends meet." Olivia stated, pointing at Danny in the interrogation room.

"His uncle passed away. He left a portion of his money and estate to Danny. We used some of it to fly down for a memorial his friends were throwing. We couldn't make it to the funeral." Gemma explained before pushing passed Olivia. "He's innocent." She hurried into the interrogation room. "Danny!"

Danny stood up and lifted his arms up, dropping them around Gemma when she ran into his chest. "Thank God, you're okay." He kissed her head. "Where have you been? That detective said that they are filing charges against you."

Gemma shook her head. "It was bullshit. Dale told them that you've been involved in the game, and they were trying to see if you'd confess." She buried her face in his chest. "I even believed it myself for a little while."

"You did?" Danny asked, pulling back slightly.

Gemma nodded. "But, I know you didn't. I know you would never do that after last year."

"Why would you think, for even one second, that I would be involved in something like that?" Danny asked. He lifted his arms up over her head, dropping them in front of him and stepping away from her.

Gemma reached for him, but he pulled back further. "It just didn't sit well. What happened yesterday: the police showing up with Dale when he was supposed to meet with you. It seemed to well put together for Dale to mastermind it." She ran a hand through her hair. "I didn't want to believe it."

Danny slammed his hand down on the table. "But, you did!" He shouted. "God damn it, Gemma! Why would you trust them even for a second?"

"Okay, let's just calm down here." Olivia said, hurrying into the room and stepping between the feuding couple.

"Fuck you!" Danny screamed at her. "You turned my girlfriend against me. You tried to get me to confess to a crime I didn't commit." He shook his head. "You turned the most important thing in my life against me." He stood still for a moment before glaring at her. "Can I go?"

Olivia took out her keys and unlocked his cuffs, watching as he rubbed his wrists after the metal was off. "Gemma cleared you, just to let you know."

"Like that makes it any better." Danny huffed before walking towards the door. He stopped and turned back to Gemma. "Do you have somewhere else you can sleep tonight?"

"Why?" Gemma asked.

Danny shoved his hands in his pockets. "I think we should take a little time to breathe. Figure out what we want."

Olivia cleared her throat. "Actually, you two should probably avoid your apartment. We had our CSU team through there earlier. We'll probably need your help too since you're caught in the middle of this. Jimmy might still be involved even you aren't."

"If you so much as put Gemma on the same block as that man-" Danny started, but stopped when he caught a look at the badge resting on her hip. "Just don't let her near Jimmy."

Olivia crossed her arms over her shoulders. "If that's what the case needs, then we'll use whatever we want to solve it."

Danny turned to Gemma. "I saw your parents earlier. You should be able to stay with them. I'll crash with one of the guys."

"Danny, can't we just talk about things first?" Gemma asked.

"I really think it's best if we spend some time apart, Gem." Danny whispered before kissing her forehead. "I love you, but... I just need to figure out where we go from here."

Gemma hooked her fingers into his pockets. "Please, Danny. I don't want to lose you."

Danny shook his head, closing his eyes as they clouded over. "I gotta go." Before she could say another word, he let her go, hurrying out of the interrogation room.

"Danny?" Gemma called, running out of the interrogation room. She ran into Elliot's chest when he blocked her from running after Danny. "Let me go. I need to talk to him."

"Well, we need to talk to you about what you've been doing." Elliot said as Olivia walked out of the interrogation room, nodding her head in agreement.

Gemma ripped herself from Elliot's arms. "Well, screw you two!" Her chest rapidly rose and fell. "Because of you two, my boyfriend was almost put in jail. You two focused more on my DNA than this case. And, now I may lose him forever." She turned and ran out to the squad room. "Danny!"

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	8. Chapter 8

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"Thank you so much for doing this." Olivia said to Dave and Mya as she watched them put together a puzzle with Noah in the middle of the living room. "I promise. I will find her."

"We know you will." Dave nodded his head.

Mya smiled. "Besides, this little guy is more fun than the weirdos walking around on the streets." She ruffled Noah's hair and looked between Elliot and Olivia standing by the front door. "Go. Find our girl and bring her home."

Elliot held open the front door before Olivia walked out. He followed close behind her, paying extra attention. "Cute kid. I didn't know you got married."

"I didn't." Olivia said with a slight roll of her eyes. "You don't need to be married to have a kid, Stabler." They stepped onto he elevator. She waited until the doors closed before speaking again. "I adopted him. His mother was a working girl, and she ended up murdered. His father. . .he's worse than my father."

Elliot shoved his hands in his jacket pockets, shrugging slightly. "I always knew you'd make a great Mom. Even after we gave Gemma up, I knew you would've been the best mother for her."

Olivia leaned against the wall, looking straight ahead at the glowing numbers for each floor. "We never really talked about that night or any night from the beginning of the pregnancy to her adoption day."

"I always figured you didn't want to talk about it. You never wanted to tell me about your boyfriends or much of anything too personal. I figured talking about a human being that came out of you, whether or not she was mine, would be pushing your limits a little bit." Elliot said with a small smirk.

"You're such an ass." Olivia chuckled before the doors opened. "I'll start riding the subway and see if I find her. I can make calls to her friends from there."

Elliot nodded as they stepped outside and headed towards his car. "I'll drive by her neighborhood. Text me any information about the places she hangs out at."

"Got it." Olivia nodded before they both ducked inside the car.

* * *

Olivia rubbed her forehead with her fingers. Thirty-five phone calls. Six hours riding the subway that smelled of BO and urine. She was yearning for a shower and a person who didn't smell of liquor. She pressed the dial button on her phone one last time. The phone rang three times before the other end picked up. "Liv, did you find her?"

"No, there's no sign of her." Olivia stated, glancing up and down the train again. "All her friends haven't seen her. She's gone completely dark."

"I haven't seen her in her neighborhood either." Elliot sighed. He pulled over to the side of the road and let his head drop back against the leather seat. "I called her and left a message. Hopefully, someone will see her somewhere. Nick and Amanda have the graveyard shift tonight. Maybe they'll see her somewhere."

Olivia exhaled through her nose slowly. "I hope so. I'm really freaking out."

Elliot nodded his head in agreement. "So am I." He glanced out at the Hudson river across the street from where he was parked. He didn't even want to think back to all the cases where they found some poor woman's corpse floating along the shore. He shook his head before focusing back on the phone call. "Where are you?"

"The next stop is at Times Square." Olivia yawned, glancing at her watch that was showing the time near midnight. "Where are you?"

Elliot turned on his blinker and looked behind him. "Close by. I'll meet you by the second police stand there."

* * *

Olivia stood up from the bench when she saw Elliot jogging over to her. She welcomed his embrace when he stood toe to toe with her. She closed her eyes when his arms wound around her waist. "How are we going to find her, El?"

Elliot buried his nose in her hair. "I don't know." He pulled back slightly and saw the puffiness around her eyes. "Tomorrow, let's track her phone. I don't think putting out a missing persons will help her. It might actually hurt her with the kind of past she's had." She nodded her head, but he knew that his words hadn't done anything to ease the ache in her chest. It didn't do anything to his. "Let's go home. Get some sleep. We'll find her."

"I don't want to go home. I want to find our daughter and bring her home." Olivia stated, looking around at the millions of people walking by them. "We never got to do that the first time around. I am bringing my baby girl home."

"Okay, we'll find her. We'll find her." Elliot breathed before taking her hand into his. "I want to check a few more spots. How about I drop you off at the station? Maybe you could get a hit off of her phone tonight."

Olivia pulled out her phone. "I hope Barba is up for a challenging negotiation."

* * *

After dropping Olivia off at the precinct, Elliot drove across town to the clubs that Danny was pictured in from the files on Olivia's desk. Every club had a line of people waiting to go inside. Each person who went in opened up the vortex of flashing colors and strobe lights. He watched every person in the lines and walking along the sidewalk. It wasn't until the last club that he saw a familiar girl walking down the sidewalk with a slight wobble in her step. He pulled up alongside of her to see Gemma walking aimlessly in a cocktail dress.

"Well, look who is doing the walk of shame. It's kind of ironic. I did the same walk the night you were conceived." Elliot said slowly driving alongside her as she held her heels in her right hand, her purse in her left. "It's dangerous to be walking out here dressed like that at this hour. Get in the car."

"Why?" Gemma asked stopping to turn towards him, looking through the open passenger window. "You lied to me. I was just starting to get my shit together, and you dump that cluster fuck on me. Not only that, now my boyfriend won't talk to me."

Elliot frowned. "I don't think it's the right time, but we are going to have to talk about your language." He saw her roll her eyes, starting to walk again. "I'm sorry that we lied to you. Your mother and I both are. We wanted to tell you sooner, but we figured it'd be best if we didn't give you that news in the middle of sending your high school sweetheart to prison. It's not like we don't care."

Gemma chuckled sadly. "Actions speak louder than words, Elliot."

"Well, I found you, didn't I? Do you know how long it took me to find you? Olivia is calling a lawyer right now to getting permission to track your phone. Dave and Mya are trying to think of places or people you might now. Do you know how scary it is to wonder where your daughter is? I was a cop for twenty plus years. I know what happens to girls who go missing. I was just about ready to start looking in ditches and dumpsters." Elliot stated narrowly missing a car parked on the side of the street. "I'm trying to get you into this car and off the street because I care about what happens to you. I care about you, damn it."

"And, we need to talk about my language?" Gemma asked raising her eyebrows.

Elliot smiled. "Just get in the fucking car so I can take you home."

Gemma stopped again and sighed tossing her heels into the car. Pulling on the door handle, she climbed into the car and let her body sink into the leather seat. "You happy?"

"I'd be more happy if you wouldn't use sarcasm." Elliot said before rolling up the window and taking off. "But, yes, I'm happy." He grabbed his phone and dialed the last number he texted. "Liv, I found her."

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	9. Chapter 9

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Elliot kept his eyes fixed on Gemma as they walked through the hallway to the empty squad room, keeping the same stride slightly behind her. He felt his chest constrict slightly when they walked in and Olivia sat on her desk with her legs crossed. She was biting her nail and looking down at a file in her lap, most likely reading the same sentence for the thirteenth time and not knowing what it really meant. She looked exhausted, but he knew she wouldn't dare close her eyes until she saw Gemma was safe and sound.

Gemma stopped a few feet from the desk and cleared her throat. "I'm here."

Olivia's head jerked up before her body did. "Thank God." She lifted up Gemma's arms, examining her for any injuries. She seemed to relax when she didn't find any marks on her. "Are you okay?"

"That's a stupid question." Gemma stated before she heard Elliot say her name with a warning. She glared at him over her shoulder before turning back to Olivia. "I'm fine, just in need of a shower and change of clothes."

"Join the club." Olivia said before grabbing her jacket from the desk behind her. "You can either stay with me or with Dave and Mya at the hotel. It's your choice."

Gemma pointed to Elliot over her shoulder. "Where is he staying?" The room fell silent. Gemma smirked and sat down on a nearby desk and started picking at her nails. "Looks like Mommy and Daddy have some talking to do."

Elliot frowned. "I swear, if you weren't eighteen."

"I've endured worse." Gemma shrugged before standing up. "You have showers here, right?"

Olivia sighed and nodded her head. "There are spare clothes in the locker room. Just walk through there." She watched as Gemma walked off, her heels clicking on the floor, before turning her gaze back to Elliot. "What do you want to do?"

Elliot sighed. "I'd like to spend time with my daughter, our daughter." He shrugged his shoulders. "I'm not going to put you an uncomfortable situation though."

"This is uncomfortable any way you slice it." Olivia breathed, crossing her arms over her chest. "I'm not going to force you to go home. You're right. We both deserve time with her, especially after the day we had." She bit her lip and glanced towards the hallway where Gemma disappeared. "Dave and Mya might want her to go with them."

"They won't force Gemma to come with them. They'll respect her decision." Elliot stated before looking down at her feet. "That's part of why we chose them."

Olivia huffed out a breath. "As much as I hate to say it, we need to figure our shit out before we unload it on Gemma." She leaned against her desk again. "That's going back nearly two decades to the night we conceived her."

"I never did ask you if you wanted to keep her." Elliot said aloud, mostly to himself than to her. "By the time you found out you were pregnant and told me, you already kind of had a game plan and asked me what I thought. But, I never asked you if it was what you wanted." He looked at her, seeing her head hanging down slightly. "Is that what you wanted?"

Olivia shook her head. "It was the right thing to do. Keeping her would've destroyed your marriage, our partnership. We would've resented each other by the time she was old enough to speak." She looked Elliot in the eyes. "Yes, I wanted to keep her. But, I knew giving her up would give us all better chances of happiness."

Elliot walked over to her and leaned against her desk beside her. "It wouldn't have been that bad, Liv." He crossed his arms over his chest. "But, I know on some level that we did the right thing. When I got Kathy pregnant the first time, my gut reaction was to marry her. Although I love my kids, we married for the wrong reasons." He bumped his shoulder into hers. "You would've castrated me for even thinking the same thing with you."

Olivia chuckled, letting her head drop to his shoulder. "As stupid as that idea would've been, I wouldn't have gone that far."

"Sex was that good, huh?" Elliot grinned before receiving a whack from her hand across his arm. "Well from your reactions that night, it wasn't bad."

"You're terrible." Olivia chuckled. She wrapped her arm around his, taking a moment to take in the feeling of him next to her. "You weren't even mad that I got pregnant."

Elliot furrowed his eyebrows. "Why would I get mad? You weren't the only one who couldn't control themselves that night. It's not like you were aiming to get pregnant." He buried his nose in her hair. "Getting mad at you. . .was pointless. Nothing would've been solved. I was so shocked that there was no room to be mad." He smiled lightly and slipped his fingers between hers. "Besides, Gemma is nothing to be mad about. Worried, irritated, driving me to psychotic, yes. Those things I can relate to her. But, mad? Never."

* * *

Olivia stood next to Mya in the kitchen as she watched Gemma sit on the floor playing with Noah who sat between her outstretched legs. "It's cute, isn't it?" Mya's voice rang in Olivia's ears.

"She's really good with him." Olivia breathed. She put down her glass of water and glanced back towards her bedroom door. Dave had taken Elliot in there an hour ago to reprimand him for leaving. She didn't think it would take this long. "What is Dave doing?"

"Don't worry about it. He's just letting Elliot know what him leaving did to you. What you've been through since he left." Mya stated, putting a hand on Olivia's arm. "Now that Gemma is in the picture, we don't want her to deal with her father suddenly walking out on her."

Olivia shook her head. "He would never do that to one of his kids." She bit her lip thinking over Mya's words. "Is Dave telling him everything?"

Mya nodded her head once. "Every detail that we heard in court."

"Are you crazy?" Olivia asked in a hushed tone before running past her to her bedroom door. She opened it to find Dave standing by her window and Elliot sitting on her bed. His eyes were red and puffy and tear streaks covered his face. His hands were shaking to the point where even holding onto his knees couldn't stop it. She looked back at Dave, feeling the familiar cotton ball catch in her throat. "How much did you tell him?"

"I just finished telling him about how your detectives found you in the cabin." Dave stated, his glare fixated on Elliot.

Olivia closed her bedroom door. "You had no right, Dave."

Dave's eyes widened as he turned his eyes to her, his glare softening. "You weren't going to tell him, and he needed to know."

"You have no clue what you just did." Olivia whispered. She turned to Elliot and kneeled down in front of him, catching his attention. She cupped his face in her hands, fighting off tears when she felt his wet her fingertips. "El, I'm here. I'm fine. I'm safe. I made it out alive. Okay?"

Elliot's voice came out so gruff and so filled with hatred that Dave stepped away from the two. Although scary to any other person, she knew that voice meant he wanted to protect her. "Where is he?"

Olivia pressed her forehead to his, keeping her eyes locked on his. "He's gone. He's six feet under, and he's never going to come near me again." She relaxed slightly when she felt Elliot's hands grab onto her waist protectively. "Honest to God."

"If I had stayed-" Elliot whispered, but he stopped himself when his voice cracked. His eyes closed, and he ducked his head down into the crook of her neck, pulling her closer to him.

Olivia felt a few of her own tears fall. "Don't talk like that. El, this isn't your fault. Even if you were here, you couldn't have prevented Lewis from coming after me." She cupped the back of his head. "El, please know this isn't your fault."

"But, you wanted me to save you. And, I was too selfish to be there." Elliot said into her neck.

"Of course, I wanted you to save me." Olivia whispered, feeling her heart sink realizing just how much Dave had really told him. "I didn't want anybody else. I don't want anybody else. You're my partner, for better or worse, remember?" She let her forehead drop to the back of his, her breath hitting the side of his face. "You weren't selfish. You left to save me the pain of watching you turn into somebody I feared. You left to protect me. Do you know how many times I prayed for my mother to do that? El, you've done more for me than anybody else has in my entire life."

Elliot pulled back to look into her eyes, using the opportunity to wipe away some of her tears. "That's not saying a lot."

Olivia shook her head. "No, not really. But, it means the world to me."

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	10. Chapter 10

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"I promise. I won't go anywhere. I'll be here in the morning." Gemma said as she hugged Dave and Mya at the front door. "I just want to sleep and wake up in the same place two days in a row, which is here." She smiled when Mya hugged her again. "Mom, I'll be fine."

Mya sighed as she pulled away. "I know you'll be fine. I just hope you take it easy on those two."

"I heard that." Elliot said from the kitchen, buttering a piece of toast at the counter.

Mya chuckled. "You were supposed to." She kissed Gemma's cheek. "We will be back tomorrow morning. So if you run off, I will hunt you down."

Gemma chuckled. "Good to know." She laughed when Dave pointed a finger at himself and then two at her. "Got it. Bye." She closed the door before turning to Elliot. He took a large bite of his toast, chewing it rather aggressively. She frowned when she saw the pinkish tint on the end of his nose. "Were you crying?"

"Do you care?" Elliot asked, crumbs falling off of his lips.

Gemma walked over and sat down on the barstool across from him. "Depends. Does it have anything to do with you leaving or her kidnapping?"

"You know about Olivia's kidnapping." Elliot said, his eyes going wide.

"I Googled both of you after I left yesterday." Gemma stated before ripping off a piece off Elliot's toast and popping it into her mouth. "Most of your articles were about physically assaulting people you arrested. Everything I read on her was about William Lewis."

Elliot ripped off another bite of his dinner before setting it down on the counter. "I didn't know." He closed his eyes. "I didn't even think to Google her."

Gemma rolled her eyes. "It would've been better if you called her."

"Okay, the little guy is out. He could barely keep his eyes open when he was brushing his teeth thanks to you." Olivia smiled at Gemma as she rounded the corner. She glanced around the apartment. "Dave and Mya left."

"Just said goodbye to them." Gemma stated before hopping off the barstool. "I figured tonight would be as good as any to find out how I even happened."

Elliot smirked at her. "Well, when a man and a woman get very drunk-"

Olivia smacked his arm with a chuckle. "Shut up. That's not exactly how it happened."

"I was doing the fast version." Elliot shrugged before shoving the rest of his toast into his mouth. He pointed out towards the living room. "Sit."

Gemma sat down in the armchair, watching as Elliot and Olivia slowly sat down, side by side, on the couch. They both looked at her as if bracing for a marathon. Taking a deep breath, she spit out her first question. "So, how did you two end up in bed together? You two were partners for, what I'd imagine, a long time. This had to be hanging between you two."

"I'll admit. Everybody always thought there was more between us, and they were right." Elliot stated. "As much as we loved you, we had to force ourselves not to think about you just so we could do our job and be ourselves." He shrugged his shoulders. "Giving you up was painful, brutally painful. Thinking about you every day would've been excruciating."

Olivia nodded in agreement. "We would think about you when we weren't on the clock, when we were together to catch a bite to eat or have a drink. We would eventually come to you." She leaned back into the cushions and sighed. "It started rather quickly. We had been partners for a couple of weeks, and we had an extremely hard case."

"We went out for drinks. Something we did quite often." Elliot added. "But, we were really thrown from the case. We did everything we could, but it wasn't enough."

"We drank more than we should've." Olivia breathed before looking at Elliot, his profile to her. "I suggested he stay at my place, so Kathy wouldn't be mad at him for being completely hammered."

Elliot ran a hand down his face. "I wasn't particularly happy with my marriage, and I didn't want to upset her. So, I agreed." He leaned forward, resting his arms on his legs. "It sounds cliché, but, once her apartment door opened, we couldn't keep our hands off of each other." He felt Olivia tense slightly beside him before relaxing. "We just wanted to feel something other than pain, and we went about it the wrong way."

"He was a gentleman, stayed until the morning." Olivia added, smirking as she added the last part. "He even made me breakfast as a way of making it up to me."

Gemma brought her knees up to her chest. "So, it was just one night?"

Olivia nodded as Elliot spoke. "It was only one night. We pretended like it never happened. And, it was going fine." He smirked as he pointed at her. "Then, we found out that you were on your way."

"I took five pregnancy tests, went to the doctor to verify." Olivia chuckled, closing her eyes thinking about how insane she drove herself. "I told Elliot the night I left the doctor's office. He came to every appointment, and he was the one who actually found Dave and Mya."

"Why did you give me up?" Gemma asked. The million-dollar question that she had been avoiding was no longer avoidable. It was the answer she had both been praying for and dreading the majority of her life. "You two were friends. You had jobs. So, why?"

Elliot cleared his throat. "I was married with four kids at the time. My youngest being two-year-old twins." He glanced back at Olivia. "We loved being partners and going to the board with your pregnancy would've forced them to split us up. Keeping you would've meant separation, divorce, splitting of kids. . .we figured it would be easier for all parties involved to give you up quietly."

Olivia ran a hand through her hair. "Don't get us wrong. We wanted to keep you. We wanted you so bad. But, it just wasn't in the cards for us to have you then." She wrapped her arms around her torso and leaned forward so her and Elliot's shoulders were touching. "We didn't even have to tell our captain I was pregnant. You were so tiny. I just wore some bulky sweaters, and nobody thought differently."

"I made sure she was safe though. I kept her out of the line of fire. I guarded her from every perp." Elliot stated. "It wasn't as safe as I would've liked her to be, but it was what we could afford with the information everybody else had."

"So, nobody knows about me. All of the people you know have no clue that you had a child together." Gemma stated wide eyed.

Olivia nodded. "That would be correct."

Gemma felt a knife twist deep in her stomach. She knew that her parents wouldn't tell everybody about her existence, but she figured at least a few people would've known. She looked over at the entertainment unit, Olivia and Noah's picture sitting above the TV. "What about Noah?"

"I adopted him." Olivia nodded, glancing at the picture herself.

Gemma huffed out a breath. "So, I was wrong place, wrong time, wrong fuck."

"Hey!" Elliot nearly barked. Olivia grabbed his arm, silently reminding him about the sleeping five-year-old in the next room.

"It's true!" Gemma fought back. "If she had slept with somebody else, if it had been a different time, this would be completely different." She looked between the both of them. "You both said it yourselves. It was a mistake. It shouldn't have happened."

Olivia held up her hands. "But, it did. Gem, even if we could go back to that night and change it, we wouldn't. We had you."

Gemma huffed out a breath. "You gave me up to make your own lives easier."

"We gave you up to give you better chances." Elliot corrected her, effectively shutting her up. "You would have four siblings that would despise your very existence. You would, most likely, have parents who are sick of each other."

Gemma's eyes widened. "You really think you two wouldn't be together if you had kept me. You're insane. You were gone for six years, and you two act like you're married." She stood up and headed for the front door. "This is unbelievable."

Elliot hurried over and blocked off the front door. "Where do you think you're going?"

"I'm going to make your lives easier once more. Nothing's changed from then. You may be divorced, but the feelings attached to whatever belief system you have will still exist now." Gemma stated before grabbing the doorknob. She yanked it, but it moved an inch before it closed against from Elliot's weight against it. "Let me go."

"Gemma, it's not going to happen. You are staying here, because we want you here. Feelings, strings, mess, and all. We don't care what happens with everybody else now. We just want you here." Olivia said, her arms crossed over her chest as she stood behind Gemma.

Gemma glared at Elliot who was still guarding the door. "Fine, I'll stay." She let the doorknob go. She looked over her shoulder at Olivia. "I'll need pajamas."

* * *

Gemma fidgeted on the couch as she moved the blanket around. "This is so uncomfortable."

"What? The couch?" Elliot asked as he started flipping through channels for something to watch. He tossed a pillow and blanket onto the recliner.

"No, wearing pajamas." Gemma gritted out before giving up and flopping her arms down on the blanket.

Elliot's eyes widened. "You don't wear pajamas?"

Gemma smirked as she snuggled into the couch. "No, I wear my boyfriend." She giggled when Elliot fake gagged and covered his mouth with the collar of his t-shirt. "Like I wanted to learn about how I was conceived."

"At least ours was disguised in a metaphor." Elliot hissed. He tossed the remote onto the coffee table and grabbed the arms of the recliner. "No father should have these mental images of his daughter."

Gemma frowned when Elliot started pulling the recliner to the front door, sitting the large leather chair against it. "What are you doing?"

Elliot sat down and pulling on the side lever, kicking out the footrest and pushing back so he was laying down. He threw the blanket out and let it fall over his body. "Making sure you keep your promise." He reached out and locked the front door before closing his eyes. "Goodnight."

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	11. Chapter 11

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Olivia knocked softly on Noah's door before opening it. "Noah, it's time for-" Her eyes widened when Noah's bed was empty. "Noah!" She quickly hurried out to the living room and covered her chest with her hand when she found Noah fast asleep with Gemma on the couch. She jumped though when she turned to the kitchen.

Elliot grinned seeing that he obviously scared her. He handed her a cup of coffee. "Sorry, didn't mean to scare you." He jutted his chin towards the couch. "He came out around one to turn off the TV. He asked Gemma if he could sleep on the couch with her."

"Really?" Olivia asked before taking a sip of her coffee, closing her eyes as the warm liquid traveled down her throat. "I didn't hear a thing." She set down her cup and walked out into the living room. She smiled when she noticed that Gemma had placed Noah in between the couch and herself, an arm draped over him protectively. She started combing her fingers through Noah's hair and then Gemma's, watching as they both slowly opened their eyes. "Good morning to you two. Noah, you need to start getting ready for school."

"We should be sending her back to school." Elliot called out from the kitchen. "She doesn't have her diploma."

Gemma smirked, closing her eyes once more. "At least if I graduated now, I wouldn't receive a baby with it as well." She stretched out, careful not to fall off the edge of the couch.

Noah looked up at Olivia with a frown. "I don't want a baby when I graduate, Mommy."

Olivia chuckled as she picked him up off the couch and started walking back towards his bedroom. "Don't worry. I won't sign you up for that." She kissed his head as she walked into his room.

"How'd you sleep?" Elliot asked as he started pulling bread out of the bag and putting it into the toaster, adding two extra pieces for Gemma. He glanced up at her when she sat up on the couch, turning so her legs were pressed against the back cushions.

"Decent." Gemma shrugged before jutting her chin towards him. "So, what happens now?"

Elliot took a sip of his coffee. "Well, you were pulled into all of this because there was evidence your boyfriend was involved in sex trafficking. We're probably going to head to the precinct today since you cleared your boyfriend."

Gemma ran a hand through her hair. "If he still is my boyfriend..." She looked down the hallway when Olivia emerged from Noah's room and closed the door behind her. "Are we playing detective today?"

"I suppose you could say that." Olivia said with a nod of her head. "I'm the only detective here. But, I'll need you to come in with me. You seem to know more about this case than Danny did, and he was our main suspect."

Gemma climbed over the back of the couch and pulled herself into one of the barstools. "If you want my help, I have one condition."

Elliot grabbed the toast when they popped up, scraping his butter knife along each one. "Aren't we the parents here? Aren't we supposed to be the ones with the terms and conditions?"

"Aren't you supposed to keep the kid if you want those rights?" Gemma retorted with a smirk. She chuckled when he shoved a plate with two pieces of toast to her, almost falling off the counter and onto her lap.

"What do you want?" Olivia asked, rolling her eyes at Elliot's behavior.

Gemma grabbed the jar of jelly that was in front of Elliot and started scooping it out. "I don't want anymore secrets or lies. If I'm going to be around your friends or your family, I want the truth to come out. Sooner rather than later. You guys gave me up to avoid all of the confrontation, but I'll only stick around if you are willing to tell the truth to everyone."

Elliot shrugged his shoulders. "You wasted a good opportunity to get what you want."

"Why?" Gemma asked.

"We were going to do that anyway." Elliot smirked.

"Is there anything else you want?" Olivia asked, chuckling at the banter between the two of them.

Gemma moved her head from side to side in thought. "If I think of something, I'll let you know." She took a bite of her toast before looking between the two of them again. "What did you two do when you were pregnant with me? Did you stay with her or what?"

Elliot nodded his head. "Whenever Kathy and I were fighting, I'd stay with her, which was often."

Olivia took a bite of Elliot's toast before handing it back to him, watching as he shoved the rest of it into his mouth. "He stayed with me the majority of the last month. After we had you, he stayed here nearly every night until we found Dave and Mya."

"Wait, so you two didn't know Dave and Mya before I was born?" Gemma asked with wide eyes.

"We knew them. We just didn't know they were trying unsuccessfully to have a kid." Elliot explained. "A few days after you were born, we found they had been trying for a long time. We talked, had them meet you a couple times before they actually took you in as their own."

Gemma shook her head. "Wow. That's horrible."

Olivia pursed her lips together. "It was more painful than you can imagine."

* * *

"She's back." Fin stated to the rest of the squad when he saw Olivia walk in with Gemma and Elliot behind her. He frowned when he saw Gemma tucked under Elliot's arm, struggling to get free. "Against her will?"

"She has tried to run away a few times since we found her." Elliot stated.

Fin glared at Elliot. "I wasn't talking to you."

Olivia rolled her eyes. "Take it easy. We can hash that mess out later." She back towards Gemma to find her pulling at Elliot's arm that was holding her against him. "El, she's not going to run. Let her go already."

Elliot let his arm drop, groaning when Gemma elbowed his side as she stepped away. "Foul."

"Why don't you two go into my office? Just don't kill each other." Olivia chuckled.

Fin's eyes squinted watching the two walk to Olivia's office, Olivia showing no signs of discomfort or annoyance. He knew that Olivia would forgive Elliot, but he never thought it would be think quick. "Don't tell me Stabler got to you."

Olivia turned back to Fin. "What are you talking about?" She shoved her hands into her back pockets.

"You and Elliot. You two look like love sick puppies than two people who are virtually strangers to one another." Fin stated, pointing to Elliot who sat down on the leather couch inside her office. "Don't tell me you slept with him."

Olivia glanced in at the two herself. "It's been nineteen years since I have." She saw Fin's eyes widen. "It's a long story."

"And long overdue at that." Fin retorted. He scoffed and shook his head. "So, you're telling me you two were screwing each other through your entire partnership. Man, I stuck up for you two so many times-"

"Fin, we only slept together once, before you even joined the unit." Olivia said, her tone hushed to keep away the attention of the busy squad room. "I haven't slept with him since then." She ran a hand through her hair. "That's not where we ended though."

Fin continued to shake his head. "So, you two had been together and he still left. That son of a bitch." He looked into her office, seeing Elliot laugh with Gemma on the couch before she suck punched his shoulder. "Wait a minute. . ." he turned back to Olivia. "She's yours."

Olivia felt the tears building in her eyes. "Yeah."

"She's his." Fin concluded, running a hand down his face. He glared at Olivia before storming into her office. Olivia hurried in behind him and closed the door before he started snapping at Elliot. "You had a kid with her and you still left!"

"Fin, stop." Olivia tried to stop him from making a scene.

Fin whipped around to face her. "Shut it." He turned back to Elliot. "You spineless son of a bitch. I can't believe you left her. I didn't understand why you left before I found out you two had a kid. Now, I can't fucking fathom the idea that you would even get her forgiveness."

Elliot nodded once. "I don't deserve it. I left, because I didn't want to become another person who let her down. I know by leaving I became that person anyway. But, I didn't let her see me the way she saw her mother: as a drunk who couldn't control themselves."

"You could've called!" Fin nearly screamed. "You could've texted her every now and then to let her know you were alive. Or better yet, to know she was alive. You gave me all those speeches about how you were her partner. Where were you when she was kidnapped for three days? Or when she was in court being questioned by the man who kidnapped her? Or, how about when he wanted to get the best of her so he offered a deal for prison time if she said that he raped her? Where were you then? You sure as fuck weren't here, man."

"You want to know where I was!" Elliot boomed, standing up. "I locked myself in my apartment and drank those entire three days with the news on twenty-four seven. I drank so much that I thought she'd been gone for a month. I scared my kids shitless. I'm not saying that I didn't screw up, because I did. I screwed up to the point where there shouldn't be no forgiveness. I don't deserve it, but guess what. She is MY partner. No matter how badly I screw up or how many times I push her away, she knows that I would do anything to protect her, even if I end up hurting her in the end. That's all I've ever wanted to do. I just wanted to protect her. So, yes. I bailed out to keep her from seeing another person in her life turn into an alcoholic. I'm not saying it was the right thing to do. I regret it. I regret every day of it, because I had to spend all those days away from her. Away from our friendship. Away from the one relationship that I knew was rock solid."

He turned away from Fin only to turn back around. "And, another thing. I left the woman I fucking love." He starred daggers at Fin, even when he and the two girls were stunned. "I fell in love with her years ago, when she was carrying our child. And, I was so stupid to stay with a woman just because I married her first. I don't care if she doesn't love me back. I would prefer it that way, but I know that life doesn't always work out the way you want it to. I love her so much that I would let her live her life without me, even if it kills me, just to make her happy. So, don't tell me that I fucking screwed up. I know I did, and I'll pay for it for the rest of my life."

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	12. Chapter 12

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"This cannot be happening." Olivia breathed as she sat down on her desk.

"Wait, does this mean I'm no longer from a broken home?" Gemma asked, raising her hand as she remained sitting on the couch.

Elliot held up his hand, silencing her. "Let's not use sarcasm right now." He turned his attention to Olivia. "Liv, you okay?"

"No, I'm not okay." Olivia stated calmly before running a hand down her face. She looked between Fin and Gemma. "Could you take her while we talk, please? Just keep her away from the coffee."

Fin frowned. "She wouldn't like it anyway." He looked over at Gemma. "C'mon, I've got lots of questions, and apparently you are the one to ask." He rested his hand on her back when she stood up. They started for the door. "Have you seen them sneaking into each other's rooms?"

Olivia's eyes widened. "Fin!"

"Sorry." Fin mumbled over his shoulder, making Gemma chuckle. He opened the door before resuming his conversation. "Well?"

Before Olivia could reprimand him again, the door closed, leaving her and Elliot in her office alone. She refused to look at him. One look and she would cave. She wasn't sure what she would cave to, but she knew that it would only send them spiraling on their path again instead of handling it like adults, like parents. "What the hell was that?"

Elliot frowned and shrugged his shoulders. "The truth, Liv. I wouldn't say it if I didn't mean it."

"So, that's how you decide to tell me you love me. By shouting it at Fin in front of our daughter who barely knows us?" Olivia questioned, shaking her head. "You can't say those things and expect everything to be okay."

Elliot scoffed. "I don't know if you've noticed, but we never do anything the easy way. Even when we were partners, well into our careers together, our simplest decisions weren't easy. We're both pigheaded, stubborn, strong to our beliefs." He shoved his hands into his pockets. "I've spent nearly two decades loving you, and it hasn't been easy. I've had to watch you go out with guys who never stood a chance with you. Some of them scared off way too easy."

"I wonder who scared them off." Olivia smirked before finally looking up at him. Those damn blue eyes of his. "It wasn't easy watching you go home to Kathy."

"Is that your way of saying your feelings are the same?" Elliot asked.

Olivia closed her eyes. "I don't know exactly what my feelings are. I've always had to shove them aside because you were with Kathy. When you left, I was just left with anger. I haven't even fully processed the fact that you are here." She ran a hand through her hair, looking out to find Fin and Amanda talking to Gemma. "I just know that whatever my feelings are towards you, they won't be acted on until we figure out what's best for our girl."

Elliot nodded his head. "I completely agree." He followed her gaze, smirking when he saw Gemma beating Fin at some hand game. "She's warming up to us, though. I can see it. She may not like it, but she is."

"Well, she couldn't really have hated us anymore after telling her we gave her up to keep our affair a secret." Olivia replied, crossing her arms over her chest. "We broke up her relationship, told her that her boyfriend was a sex trafficker. I'm surprised we found her. She could've escaped to Canada if she really wanted to."

Elliot looked back at her, shrugging his shoulders. "Like I said, we never do things the easy way."

* * *

"That is so cool!" Gemma grinned as she looked through Fin's computer. "So, you can just look up anybody and you know what they've done?"

"I'll know if they urinated in Central Park." Fin nodded his head. He frowned when she typed in her own name, a rap sheet coming up with numerous charges. "What have you been up to?"

Gemma stared back at her mug shots, seeing the list of charges and details on what she did. "A lot of things I'd rather forget." She looked up when Elliot and Olivia walked out of her office. "So, will I still be a bastard child?"

Elliot fake chuckled. "You'll be that whether we get hitched or not."

"No, we're not getting together. There are other things that require our full attention right now." Olivia stated, pointing to Gemma.

"Me? What did I do?" Gemma asked with a frown.

Fin continued to read the computer, squinting as he tried to look around the teenager. "According to this, prostitution and soliciting money." He continued to read, despite Gemma's hand trying to block the screen.

Olivia sighed. "I've already see your rap sheet, Gemma."

"Hey, that's intrusive." Gemma said, protesting against her mother's actions.

Olivia cocked an eyebrow with a smirk. "I spent nearly three hours pushing you out of my body. That was intrusive." She turned the monitor off on Fin's computer, preventing him from reading the rest of the rap sheet. "We need to talk though about the case at hand. Like we said this morning, Danny was our main suspect and now we know his only connection to sex trafficking was through you."

"I'm well aware." Gemma sighed before standing up, slapping Fin's hand when he reached out to turn his monitor back on. "Respect a woman's privacy. You're like a peeping tom when it comes to rap sheets."

"Hey, I might find something for the case." Fin said, his smirk victorious as he turned his monitor on, facing Gemma's mug shot photos once again. "I'll let you know if I find anything pertaining to the case."

Amanda walked over, a stack of files in her hands. She pushed passed Olivia to sit down at her desk, ignoring Elliot and Olivia's presence behind her. "I hope he didn't bug you too much while I was gone." She said, looking up at Gemma.

"He's not a problem. I've dealt with worse." Gemma said with a roll of her eyes. She turned back to her parents. "So, you said you wanted to ask me about the case? Are we going to the interrogation rooms?"

"Conference room." Olivia said, pointing towards the room off of her office. She watched as Elliot and Gemma headed towards the room, Elliot poking her sides playfully along the way. Before she followed them, she turned to Amanda. "Are you okay?"

Amanda continued to write in the files in front of her. "I'm fine."

Olivia glanced at Fin, seeing his knowing look. "Is this about Gemma?"

Amanda shrugged once. "None of my business." She stood up with a paper and looked at Fin. "I have to make a copy of this and then we have that victim waiting at Mercy for us."

"Right." Fin nodded before watching her walk away. He looked back at Olivia. "We have a right to be mad."

"You weren't there. I never lied to you." Olivia reminded him. "You don't get to be mad I decided to keep this private. It was hard enough going through it. I didn't need to relive it telling you when I never told anyone. There were only four people in the world that knew she was ours, and all four of them happen to be her parents in same way shape or form."

Fin shook his head. "We're your friends, Liv?"

"And, he was my best friend, Fin." Olivia snapped back, her tone sharp. "We spent twelve years as partners together, and we tried to avoid the topic as much as possible. It was too painful. So, excuse me if I didn't tell you that I gave up a daughter after carrying her for nine months and raising her for nearly two before giving her up to a couple who moved across the country. I didn't know that information was imperative to know in our friendship." She walked around Fin, headed to the conference room.

"Liv?" Fin called. She stopped and turned to him, her jaw somewhat clenched. "You didn't have to tell me the whole story. But, being your friend for almost nineteen years, I figured we were close enough to tell me that you at least had a kid out there."

Olivia scoffed. "You nearly ripped my head off for trying to help your kid, and you hated the father of my child. Telling you wasn't exactly on my to do list." Before he could defend himself, Olivia entered the conference room, slamming the door shut behind her.

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	13. Chapter 13

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Gemma leaned her head back against the chair she was sitting on, closing her eyes as she answered the millionth question from her parents. "Jimmy Kirk was my pimp. He moved through the process quick. By the time Danny bought me out, he was in charge of the people ordering around the pimps. Jimmy brought me up the ranks with him. For being as young as I was, it was safer to keep me on their golden ticket list."

"Golden ticket list?" Elliot asked.

Olivia cleared her throat. "High rollers."

"Yeah." Gemma nodded. She exhaled through her nose sharply. "Police caught me when Jimmy was starting out. We learned from my experiences. He's smarter than most of the guys in that business. He's not afraid to get his own hands dirty if it means improving." She crossed her arms over her chest. "A couple months before Danny bought me out, Jimmy kept me for himself and his richest clientele. I worked two nights a week and was still making a few grand."

Olivia made a note on her paper, trying to focus on the story than the fact that her daughter was the one saying these words. "How did you get involved with Jimmy to begin with?"

Gemma rolled her eyes. "Danny and I were in a tough place. He got mono and couldn't go to work. He could barely function as a human let alone butcher meat for eight hours. My job wasn't making ends meet. So. . .I knew a girl who was in the game. Her guy wasn't taking on new girls, but he knew Jimmy. I met him at a club. Once I proved to him I was committed, he put me on the streets with his other girls."

"Are you in contact with any of them?" Olivia asked.

"I haven't talked to them since I left." Gemma admitted, running a hand through her hair. "A lot of those girls. . .once you leave, you're dead to them. I didn't even know Danny was going to buy me out. He knew what I was doing. I knew he didn't like it. But, it was good money, and I couldn't exactly just turn in a two weeks notice."

Elliot frowned. "How did Danny get the money to buy you out?"

"I asked him once, but he told me not to worry about it." Gemma breathed before resting her head against the table. "Can we take a break? We've been in here for nearly three hours."

Olivia sighed, setting her pen down. "Yeah, I'm starving, actually. How about some lunch?"

"Please." Both Elliot and Gemma begged at the same time.

Olivia chuckled standing up. She patted Elliot's shoulder as she walked around the table and into her office. When she closed the door behind her, the one leading to the bullpen opened. Amanda stopped when she noticed Olivia. "I was just going to drop this off." She set the file back down on the desk before heading towards the door.

"Can we talk, Amanda?" Olivia asked, her eyebrows furrowing together when the younger woman seemed to be radiating tension. "Close the door."

Amanda did as she was told, but she didn't make a move to sit down. She stayed close to the door, looking for an excuse to leave as Olivia sat down at her desk. "Something wrong?"

Olivia shrugged. "I don't know. You tell me." She crossed one leg over the other. "You've been acting very strange all morning. I think I have a good idea why, but why don't I let you tell me? Let's see if you surprise me."

"You never told me you had a daughter." Amanda stated, her blue eyes almost boring holes into Olivia.

"And?" Olivia asked, not giving a shit about the blonde's statement.

Amanda scoffed. "Don't you think that maybe it was something you should've shared. I mean Fin and I catch this case. Now, we're not even working on it. We never thought that this girl would actually be your daughter. We didn't even have a clue that she existed."

Olivia glanced in at her daughter, seeing her still sitting at the table with her head laying on it, before turning her attention back to Amanda. "I don't see how that's any of your business."

"Friends share." Amanda stated.

Olivia's eyes widened. "Like you've shared every detail of your life with me." She ran a hand through her hair. "She's my kid. She's not yours, not Fin's. She's mine. You two didn't need to know. I had no clue she would show up in my interrogation room with fake IDs and a rap sheet. I haven't seen her since she was two months old. Elliot and I tried to avoid the topic altogether. I wasn't going to randomly bring it up to you two after he left."

Amanda's face skewed in disgust. "You tried to forget your own daughter."

". . .You adore your daughter, Amanda. Don't you?" Olivia asked, seeing the blonde's face soften at the mention of her child. "You. . .you have her with you everyday. I gave up my daughter, because I thought it would be better for everyone involved. I raised her for two months with Elliot before I had to say goodbye to her. Now, Jesse's father, he's not in the picture. What if he showed up? Wanted visitation? Wanted every other weekend? Those two days. . .you can't stand the thought of them right now. I gave up my two month baby girl thinking I might never see her again."

"I didn't fucking forget my daughter." Olivia spat. "But, talking about her, thinking about her, it was ripping my soul apart. I had Elliot there to help me get through it, because he also had to give up his daughter. We always knew she was out there, but we tried to not talk about her so we wouldn't break down."

Amanda shook her head. "You didn't have to give her up. You could've kept her."

Olivia nodded her head, looking down at her hands. "Yes, I could've. I could've raised her here in New York. I could've been the independent mother many years ago. I chose to give her to people who I knew would love her the way I did. I gave her up, so she could have a normal life. Her existence wouldn't break up a marriage, a partnership. But, guess what? Whether or not I kept her, whether or not she's here now, it's non of your business as to why I didn't tell you about her. It wasn't your business, still isn't."

"Friends don't keep secrets from each other, Liv." Amanda stated.

Olivia looked up with a sad smirk. "Really? How about you tell me who Jesse's father is? If you tell me that, I'll tell you everything you want to know."

"That's different. He's not in the picture." Amanda defended herself.

"And, my daughter wasn't in the picture until a week ago. So, you tell me the difference." Olivia demanded before picking up her glasses and slipping them on. She picked up her cell phone and started scrolling through her contacts. "Now if you'll excuse me, I have a phone call to make."

 **Please review! Sorry it's taking me so long to update. I'm in my last stretch of college, work is crazy, and I have a short story being published in May. My second publication! Love you guys though for sticking around and remaining my loyal fans and readers!**


	14. Chapter 14

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"How did you do that?" Noah asked loudly, making Gemma chuckle as they laid on the floor. Their heads were squished together as they both looked up at the video game on her phone, something Noah begged her to do so he could play. "Get the mushroom!"

"I'm going. I'm going." Gemma giggled before her thumbs swerved around her on screen.

Olivia walked into the living room, smiling when she saw the two had forgone sitting on any of the furniture in the living room and decided to sprawl out on the hard wood floors. "Alright, Noah, it's time for bed. I even gave you an extra fifteen minutes to play with Gemma."

Noah pouted out his bottom lip. "But, Mom."

"Buddy, I'm gonna hit the couch here soon anyway. We can play more tomorrow." Gemma said, turning off the game on her phone. She sat up, grabbing onto his sides and tickling him. "I'll show you how to on the Castle."

"Cool." Noah grinned before Gemma helped him onto his feet. "Can Elliot read me my story tonight?"

Olivia smirked before looking over her shoulder, seeing Elliot's wide eyes from the kitchen as his hands froze in the dish cloth he was wiping them on. "What do you say, El? You up for a bedtime story."

Elliot grinned at her and nodded his head. "I've had years of practice. Go put your pjs on, bud. I'll figure out which story to tell you." He watched as the little boy ran back to his bedroom before looking at Olivia. "I think he likes me."

"I know he does. Bedtime stories are very sacred to him." Olivia smiled before sitting down on the couch, her eyes moving to her teenage daughter staring down on her phone as her thumbs tapped furiously away on the keyboard. "Who are you talking to?"

"Mya. She and Dave just got home from the airport." Gemma stated.

Noah came running out of his bedroom, his hands pulling down his shirt. "Elliot! I'm ready."

Elliot laughed before picking up the little boy and heading back towards the room. "What kind of stories do you like?"

Olivia smiled before hearing the door close. She looked back to Gemma as she tucked her legs under herself. "How was their flight?"

"Uneventful. They slept the entire flight." Gemma smiled before letting her screen go dark. She slid her phone into the front pocket of her sweatshirt, glancing around the apartment before she eventually had nothing else to investigate. "Is that Amanda chick at the station your sister or something? She was on the phone with her daughter and called you Aunt Liv."

"No," Olivia said, shaking her head, "we're not sisters. We just have a close friendship. We don't really have family around here, so we help each other out." She ran a hand through her hair. "But, I don't think she'll be speaking to me outside of work for a while."

Gemma furrowed her eyebrows. "Why?"

"She's upset I didn't tell her about you." Olivia stated, playing with her fingers. "She thinks I should've told her because we're friends."

Gemma nodded her head. "I can get that. It's a pretty big secret to hold onto."

Olivia smiled sadly. "Yeah, it is. I'm just not a person who likes to share personal information like that." She jutted her chin towards Gemma. "Something we probably have in common. Hiding your profession as a prostitute from your live-in boyfriend is a big secret to hold onto."

"That was horrible." Gemma shuddered before leaning against the coffee table. "So, you don't have any siblings?"

Olivia shrugged. "I have a half-brother. I see him from time to time, but not nearly as often as I would like." She bit her bottom lip, pondering over her next words. "I didn't meet him until about ten years ago."

Gemma's eyes widened. "Seriously?"

"Yeah," Olivia nodded. She smiled softly. "We share the same father."

"Something tells me that's not the end of the story." Gemma said, her voice reflecting her worried expression.

Olivia felt the tears burning the back of her eyes as she pursed her lips together. "It's not." She reached out her hand. "Come here."

Gemma hesitated for a moment before standing up and taking Olivia's hand. Instead of sitting down next to her, Gemma let Olivia pull her down to her lap, curling up against her side and tucking her head into Olivia's neck. She felt Olivia's arms tighten around her when she glanced up towards her face. "What happened?"

"Well. . .my mother, your grandmother, went to Hudson University. She was bright, young, talented." Olivia began. "One night, a man grabbed her and pulled her into an alley nearby. He attacked her. He raped her." She pressed her lips against Gemma's forehead, burying her nose in her brown hair. "He was my father, your grandfather."

"That's horrible." Gemma whispered, her own eyes stinging as they watered.

Olivia nodded. "My mom got pregnant with me because of the rape. It changed her. She was an alcoholic from as far back as I can remember. She passed away a little over a year and half after you were born. She fell down a flight of stairs and. . .she was just gone." She felt Gemma's body tensing and relaxing as she tried to hold it together. "It's okay, baby. It's sad."

Gemma took a shaky breath. "How he ever caught?"

"No." Olivia stated simply. "I found out about my brother when a new DNA testing came out. His DNA was in the system by accident. . .sort of. He's not a criminal. Anyway, I met him, and we talked. We have a lot of things in common. He grew up with our father. He had the normal father-son relationship. He even brought me a box of his things. My father had pictures of me. He knew about me. I never got to meet him though. He died before I found my brother."

Gemma exhaled sharply. "He deserved to die for what he did."

Olivia glanced down, wiping away a stray tear rolling down Gemma's cheek. "I won't argue with that." She laid her head on Gemma's when she cuddled in closer. almost clinging to Olivia like Noah would after a nightmare. "That's why I do what I do. That's why I work Special Victims. I don't want other women going through what my mother went through. I do what I do to keep girls like you off of the streets and out of as much danger as possible."

Gemma half laughed, half sobbed as she replied sarcastically. "I never got the memo."

Olivia chuckled and kissed Gemma's forehead again, tucking her head down so her cheek rested against her hairline. She caressed Gemma's cheek, remembering the last time she held her this close when she was two months old. She inhaled slowly, closing her eyes. "You still smell the same." She felt Gemma's eyebrows furrow against her cheek. "You used to smell like green apples. You still do."

"Green apples don't smell." Gemma smiled, now wiping away her own tears as much as she could.

Olivia hummed softly. "I'll get you a green apple tomorrow. You can smell it then."

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	15. Chapter 15

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"Benson." Olivia answered into her phone as she capped the orange juice and put it back in the fridge. She glanced out into the living room, seeing Noah completely engrossed with the game Gemma was playing on her phone. Hearing her bedroom door closed, she picked up the glass of juice she had just filled and held it out, letting it go once Elliot rounded the corner and took the glass from her.

There was a moment of silence before the caller cleared her throat. "Are you bringing Gemma in today?"

Olivia took a beat of silence of her own, biting her bottom lip and swallowing the urge to say something she would regret later. "Yes, she is our key to this case, Rollins. I plan on bringing her in. Why? Has something come up?"

"We have a new lead." Amanda stated. She didn't let Olivia get a word in before she continued to speak. "It would be better to talk about it here. I'll see you in a bit." With that, she hung up the phone, leaving silence, once again, blaring through Olivia's phone.

Olivia pulled the phone away from her ear to confirm with her eyes that the call had ended, not really believing that Amanda would be that abrupt. She scoffed and shook her head as she grabbed her coffee. "Unbelievable." She muttered.

Elliot's ears perked hearing the tone in her voice. "What's wrong? Is something wrong with the case?"

"No, it's Amanda. Since she found out about Gemma, she's been acting really. . .well, she's been treating me like I'm a horrible person for not telling her." Olivia sighed, tossing her phone onto the counter. "Fin isn't happy with me either about that."

Elliot shrugged. "It wasn't their business to know."

"That's what I said." Olivia stated, glad that she and Elliot were on the same page about it. "I mean, yes, Amanda and Fin are my friends. They're great friends. But, I didn't tell anybody about Gemma. It wasn't just them. We never told your mother, or my mother, or Kathy."

"Which reminds me, we are meeting with her and my mother this weekend to break the news to them." Elliot informed her, glancing down at his phone to confirm he made the plans. "Just what I always wanted to do on my weekend." He glanced at Olivia, seeing her attention completely geared towards him, but her eyes were dull. He leaned forward, kissing her temple. "They'll come around, Liv. Eventually, they will see your side of things."

Olivia gave him a small smile. "Thanks."

* * *

Olivia glanced down at her phone as she walked into the squad room. Gemma was a few footsteps behind her when they both heard Amanda. "Gemma Benson, you are under arrest for Obstruction of Justice."

"What?" Gemma asked, yelling at Amanda as her hands were cuffed behind her back.

Olivia whipped around and held up her hand, trying to stop Amanda. "Rollins, what are you doing? She is helping us with our case!"

Amanda tightened the second cuff and straightened Gemma into a standing position. "She is our entire case, Liv. She's been lying since day one."

"What are you talking about?" Olivia asked, her eyebrows furrowing.

Fin stepped up from behind her, holding the case file in his hand. "Our boy Dale was waiting for a guy named Eric, dirty blonde hair, neck tattoo. When Gemma showed up to meet him and she completely turned on him, we didn't question it when she called and invited a Danny with black hair to come down and talk about the case." He held out the wire transcript from the meet Dale had with Gemma under surveillance. "We couldn't get evidence on Danny because there wasn't any. We talked to the wrong guy."

"She's a con worker." Amanda stated. "She might not even be your daughter."

Olivia's eyes widened as she glared at Amanda. "She's my girl. Don't you worry about that." She looked at Gemma with tears in her eyes. "Is this all true, Gemma?"

Gemma yelped when Amanda twisted her arm, earning another glare from Olivia. "I can explain."

"Good, you're going to." Amanda stated before walking away with her. "You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law. . ."

* * *

"It's not good, El." Olivia breathed into her phone, hunched over in her chair, locked in her office. "I don't know how far in she is or deep she is, but it's not what we thought. Either she's still in the game or she is the game. I was so caught up in the fact that I found our daughter. I completely forgot to do my job."

"Hey, it's going to be okay. Alright? We both saw how upset she was about us suggesting Danny was in the game. If she's involved, she's definitely not running the show." Elliot said, glancing back towards the kitchen to verify that his boss still thought he was working. "Even if she's lied to us, there has to be some truth in there somewhere. We'll get through this."

Olivia huffed out a breath, glancing over at the interrogation room where Gemma sat with her hands cuffed to the table. She had her head pressed against the steel with her eyes closed. "I hope so. Rollins seemed a little too happy to arrest her. She even made a comment that she might not be our daughter."

"Well, she doesn't know everything we do. I bet she's just looking out for you in the only way she knows how to at this point." Elliot sighed. "But, she could've handled the situation better. At least, talk to you first. I mean arresting our daughter in front of the entire squad. It's probably her way of getting back at you for not telling her about Gemma in the first place. Not that she should've known. I don't even know her. I don't want a stranger to know about my child. But, she's your friend. You're pretty good when it comes to picking who your friends are, but, then again, you chose me over a decade ago." He smiled when he heard the small laugh erupt over the speaker of his phone. He glanced back over his shoulder again. "I'm done here in a few hours. I will be there as soon as I can. Alright?"

Olivia nodded her head. "Yeah." She felt some of the pressure drop off her chest, enough to let her fill her lungs a little bit better. "Thanks, El."

"Anything to make the woman I love feel better." Elliot smiled before turning back to the kitchen, walking through the swinging doors. "I gotta go, but I'll text you when I'm on my way. Bye."

"Bye." Olivia whispered before hanging up herself. She closed her eyes feeling an entirely different pressure on her chest before she leaned forward, pressing her head against the wood of her desk and closing her eyes.

 **Please review! Thanks so much for waiting! It's been super busy with college. Just found out today that I have to have braces put BACK on to twist one of my teeth. I still have a baby tooth, and, to put in the implant, they have to make room for it. Wrecked my day finding out that news, but your feedback on my stories always cheer me up. XOXO**


	16. Chapter 16

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"I can't tell you how happy I am that you're here." Olivia breathed into Elliot's shoulder. His arms wrapping around her the second he walked into the squad room. There were a few glares and sideways glances from her co-workers, but she could've cared less. She felt nearly all the stress leave her body in that one hug. "They've been in interrogation for nearly an hour."

"Talking about what?" Elliot asked, his eyebrows furrowed.

Olivia shook her head. "Nothing. She won't talk to anyone but us. Amanda has been badgering her." She crossed her arms over her chest. "i can't protect her, El. In this situation, i cannot protect her."

Elliot rubbed her arms, squeezing her upper arms reassuringly. "Things are going to be okay. We'll protect her as best we can, but we can't face the music for her." He shrugged slightly. "I learned that the hard way." He kissed her forehead. "She only wants to talk to us, huh?"

"Yeah," Olivia breathed. "She's been strong too. Amanda's been screaming at her. It's hard, but I can't blame her. I want to scream at her for getting into this, but she did it to keep from being homeless."

Elliot ran his hand down his face, rubbing his chin. "What evidence does Amanda have to show that Gemma is apart of all of this?"

Olivia sighed. "I'm not sure, but, when she accused Gemma, she didn't deny it. She just said she could explain." She glanced back towards the interrogation room where Gemma was being held. "We can't question her alone. I hate to say the words, but it's a conflict of interest."

Elliot raised his eyebrows. "Pretty sure we've been a conflict of interest since the beginning of our partnership, but okay." He rested his hand on the small of her back. "After you."

* * *

Olivia stood next to Elliot outside of the interrogation room as Amanda paced between them and Fin, her rant now reaching it's tenth minute.

"You're fucking daughter is a prostitute." Amanda nearly spat. "She has sex for money, and you're defending her! I get she's your daughter in all, but, Liv, she's involved in this. Who knows how many girls have been brought into this because of her. She didn't even get caught in this business because of a boyfriend. She went into it willingly."

Olivia held up her hands. "Okay, let's get one thing straight. My daughter did not do this willingly. She did it to keep her apartment and put food on the table. She was desperate. She went down the wrong road. I get what this job is. I've been in this unit longer than anybody." Elliot raised his eyebrows, catching Olivia's eyes. "I've gained up on you since you left." She turned back to Amanda. "She's a victim, Amanda. Have you seen her mugshots? Her medical records. Broken bones, some that probably should've been handled with surgery. Black eyes, one report even said the doctors thought she had endured some sort of torture."

"And, she's putting other girls through the same cycle." Amanda shot back. "Blood or not, she's guilty."

Fin stepped forward, standing between the two women. "I think we need a moment to cool off. We're not getting anywhere." He turned to Olivia. "I will sit in with you. She'll only talk to the two of you. She wants to explain herself. This is the only way."

Amanda's eyes widened. "Why you? I got the call for this case. I found the evidence."

"Like she is going to talk in front of you after you screamed at her for over an hour." Fin retorted. He huffed out a breath. "Look, Amanda, I get you're mad about Liv not telling us about having a kid. I'm mad too, especially at the asshole who's her father. But, we can't take it out on a girl who has been put through sex trafficking. We know how the business works. If she didn't bring in new people, it wouldn't have ended well for her."

Amanda glared at all three of them. Her eyes softened slightly though when she looked at Fin a third time. She turned her gaze to Gemma. "Fine, question her. But, I'm watching. Gemma has information that could help us bring down an entire ring here in New York."

"Agreed." Olivia stated before resting her hand on the doorknob of the interrogation room. "Now, I want to talk to my daughter. So, if you two boys are ready."

* * *

Gemma glanced between both her parents, not really paying much attention to Fin who sat at the end of the table. She had her arms crossed over her chest, her teeth biting into her lower lip. "You want to know everything?"

"We need to know." Olivia corrected her. "This isn't just about you. There are hundreds of girls in this city who could be saved because of the information you have."

"Plus, if you don't tell us, we can arrest you for concealing evidence and all the incriminating property we found on you the first time." Fin added in. He shrugged when Gemma's stare turned to him. "Start with who Eric is."

Gemma sighed and ran a hand through her hair, leaning forward to rest against the table. "He's my partner of sorts. He's close with Jimmy. Since Danny 'bought' me out, I had to keep a lower profile with him. So, Jimmy assigned Eric to bring messages between the two of us when we couldn't meet face to face."

"What about Dale?" Olivia asked. "How does he tie into all of this?"

Gemma rolled her eyes. "He's just a murder victim who hasn't been shot yet. He's Eric's best friend, but he's as dumb as a doornail. He helps recruit girls for Eric, but he doesn't know this all comes back to Jimmy. He thinks this operation is just a few dozen girls. Side cash for a rainy day. He has no clue how wide spread Jimmy's circle really is."

"What happened when you first joined?" Elliot asked, his eyebrows furrowing together as he clenched his hands together with white knuckles.

"Uh," Gemma gulped, "I was informed I would have to be broken in. Jimmy was my handler. He had his take. Then once I passed his inspection, I was sent to a couple of the big guys. They're only in the city a few days a year, and we never know when they're coming." She glanced at Fin. "Once I passed all their, I guess, tests, I was sent to this warehouse. It's basically one giant brothel. It was horrible. They let the weirdest people in there, and, unless they hit you, what they want is fair game. If you can't take it, you're punished."

Olivia felt her stomach drop, but she needed to ask. "How?"

Gemma met Olivia's eyes. "Depends on how committed you want to be." She looked down at her hands. "Since I wanted to keep that part of my life a secret from my live in boyfriend, they only used methods that wouldn't leave marks." She sucked in a deep breath. "I was there for a week. Twenty-four seven you have to keep your legs open. After the third day, they started shooting us up with antibiotics to fight off any diseases these creeps had and heroine to help numb us."

"They gave the men cocaine, didn't they?" Fin asked. Gemma nodded, looking over at him.

Elliot glanced between the two. "What does that do?"

Gemma shrugged. "Makes the guys horny. Makes them finish faster. They get hooked on the drug. They buy more. Quicker sex, more time for other customers. It was literally a place for the Devil to worship and sit on a pile of money."

"What do you do now?" Olivia asked.

Gemma played with her fingers. "I'm more of an escort now. You pay to be the boyfriend. All the guys who want an escort are checked out. If they're clean, they can rent a relationship for fifteen grand a month." She smiled sadly. "You just have to follow their schedules and listen for the commands from their sick heads."

Fin frowned. "Well, you haven't been anywhere with anyone this month."

"Jimmy heard about my arrest and Dale's. He's after Dale now, but he just told me to lay low until the next round comes." Gemma breathed. She looked between her parents. "But, I can get to Jimmy anytime I want."

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	17. Chapter 17

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Gemma frowned when she saw their exit pass by the windows of the car. She leaned forward, glancing between her two parents in the front of the car. "I thought we were going to Jimmy's club."

"We will tonight." Elliot said, looking at her through the rearview mirror. "Right now, we are headed to Queens."

"What's in Queens?" Gemma asked, her eyebrows furrowing together in confusion.

Elliot glanced at Olivia to see her shifting nervously. He shifted himself, knowing the shit storm they were about to walk into. "Uh, your siblings. I called them and told them to meet me at a diner we usually go to Sunday mornings after Church."

Gemma smirked. "You go to Church." She chuckled when the tips of his ears turned red. "You are such a choir boy. I bet you think you're going to hell because of me."

"I'll get there sooner because of you. The stress you cause alone will turn my hair gray by the end of the month." Elliot stated, running a hand down his face.

"What hair?" Gemma asked with a giggle, earning a glare from Elliot in the mirror. She saw Olivia try to cover the smile that broke across her face at the comment. "But, I'll take that as a compliment. Nice to know I made my impact on you one way or another."

Elliot let out a laugh. "Oh, you sweet little devil. I'm glad you think so highly of me."

Olivia chuckled at the two, no longer equipped to hold back her amusement. She pressed her fingers into her tired eyes, wiping at the tears that threatened to fall from her laughter. "You two can't be civil for two minutes without insulting each other."

"She started it." Elliot mumbled. He growled when Gemma kicked the back of his seat, causing him to jerk forward. "Knock it off."

"Tattle tail." Gemma retorted, her eyebrow cocking upwards in a dare. She leaned back in her seat. "Why are we meeting them now though? We're not exactly the picture perfect happy family. Elliot's a mess in love. You're a closeted mother. I'm a newly-out prostitute turned escort. We scream insanity."

Olivia sighed, pushing herself deeper into the seat. "I can't argue with you there."

Elliot shook his head. "It's going to be fine."

"El, you're about to tell your kids you fucked your partner, knocked her up, and gave away the baby to hide it from them for nearly two decades." Gemma reiterated, leaning forward to look at him in the mirror again. "What part of that is going to be fine?"

"We'll it'd sound better if you didn't swear." Elliot replied.

Gemma rolled her eyes. "I'm a teenager, not a nun." She let the car stay silent for a moment before collecting herself. "You could lose everything today."

Elliot nodded. "I know." He snatched his jaw, the stubble on his skin rubbing roughly against his fingertips. "But, the truth needs to come out. My kids deserve to know that they have another sister, and you deserve to live in a world where people know you exist. It kills me to think that I might lose my relationships with my kids, but I won't be able to live with myself if I force you to live a life of isolation."

Olivia reached over and took his hand into hers. "Even if they're mad, they'll come around. They love you, El."

"I hope so." Elliot breathed before bringing her hand up to his lips and pressing a kiss to her fingers.

* * *

Elliot stared down at the plate the waitress set down in front of Gemma, piled high with waffles, sausage, and syrup. "Are you going to eat all of that?"

"Get your own." Gemma spat, guarding her plate with her arm.

Olivia chuckled, quickly thanking the waitress for bringing them their meals, before emptying another creamer into her coffee. "Do you think Kathy will come?"

"I don't see why she would. She knows this is my thing with the kids. The only difference is that it's the middle of the week." Elliot shrugged, dumping his own helping of syrup onto his plate. He draped his arm over the booth behind Gemma. "Now, we need to make a good first impression, because telling them the truth will sour their taste on all of us."

"I know how to be nice, Paps." Gemma said, rolling her eyes as she stuffed waffle in her mouth. "You can chill."

Elliot smirked. "Thank you for allowing me to see the chewed up remains of your waffle flop around inside your mouth." He chuckled when Gemma opened her mouth wide, showing off the sight again. He covered her mouth with his hand. "Just eat. You might not have an appetite after this."

Gemma snorted. "If you think this conversation is going to spoil my waffles, you are sorely mistaken."

"They're here." Olivia said, jutting her chin outside to the load of Stabler kids unloading from the few cars that just pulled in. She felt her stomach drop when they all turned to the diner. "Kathy is here."

"Shit." Elliot breathed, running a hand down his face. He stood up when they walked in, smiling and heading over to the table to join them. "Hey guys. I'm glad you could make it." He hugged each of his kids, turning away when Kathy nodded her hello to him. He turned back to the table to see Olivia with her arm protectively around Gemma, cornered in the booth they had picked for the family. "You guys remember Olivia. We reconnected here about a week ago."

Elliot slid back into the booth next to Gemma as the rest of the clan sat down. Kathy was the first to clear her throat. "Olivia? Wow, I just can't believe it. I never thought that Elliot would go back to the city just to fix things with you."

"Kath, we were partners for twelve years. It was a process." Elliot stated before seeing his kids staring at Gemma with curiosity. "Oh, this is-"

"Sister Maria." Gemma smiled, making the sign of the cross. "I'm visiting from my convent in Germany. Mr. Stabler has told me so much about you."

Dickie's face fell. "You're a nun?"

Gemma pouted out her lip slightly and reached over to touch his hand. "Have you sinned, child?"

Olivia turned her head away from the group, trying not to jerk as she giggled. Elliot smiled staring at his daughter. "Have you sinned, child? Really? Tell me, Sister Maria, are the hills really alive with the sound of music?"

"Dad, you can't mock a nun." Dickie argued.

"She's not a nun!" Elliot stated, catching the triumphant grin on Gemma's face. "You really are going to kill me." He turned back to the rest of his kids. "This is Gemma, Olivia's daughter."

"Olivia's daughter? You never mentioned anything about Olivia having a daughter the entire length of our marriage." Kathy said, leaning over the table to glare at Elliot.

It was now Olivia's turn to clear her throat awkwardly. "I gave her up to a couple who were friends of mine when she was an infant." She rubbed her thumb back and forth over Gemma's shoulder. "But, Elliot knew."

All eyes turned to Elliot. Elliot tugged at the collar of his shirt, his neck turning a shade of red that almost looked unhealthy. "Gemma. . .is also my daughter." He saw the protests about to start, but held up his hands. "Let me get the record straight." He felt the anger boiling, but nobody dared to say anything. "We had a rough case, and it just happened. And, it only happened once. It was a few weeks into our partnership. There was no sneaking around or years of an affair. It was one time. We agreed to forget about it. But, we found out Gemma was coming along, and we knew that you guys knowing about her would only cause this family to fall apart." He looked over at Gemma, nudging her shoulder. "It was a selfish thing to do, but she turned out pretty alright." He looked back at his family. "Olivia, nor I, met her until a week ago when Olivia caught a case that she got caught up in."

"Don't tell me she's a streetwalker or anything." Kathy said, her face screwing up in disgust.

"Like I'd ever sink that low." Gemma snapped with a roll of her eyes, crossing her arms over her chest. "I'm classier than that."

Maureen held up her hands. "Hold on a moment." She pointed between her father and Olivia. "So, for all these years, you two hid the fact that you slept together and had a kid. How the hell did you do that?"

Elliot shrugged. "It was early in our partnership. Olivia didn't show much during her pregnancy. No one at work even knew she was pregnant. I found the couple we gave Gemma to, and they loved her as if she were their own."

"You still slept together. You denied for years that you and Olivia didn't do anything." Kathleen spat, her voice laced with venom.

"I lied." Elliot admitted, his eyes filling with tears hearing the hatred and anger coming from his kids. "I love all you guys, and I love Gemma just the same. Giving her up was the hardest thing I ever had to do. Causing you guys pain over that was not something I ever wanted to do." He looked back at Gemma and gave her a soft smile. "But, she's back in my life now. Olivia is too. It's time you guys knew that you had a sister."

Dickie looked back at Gemma. "So, if you're not a nun, what do you do?"

"Like that's the most important thing to know right now." Lizzie snapped, shoving her brother's shoulder.

"It's a valid question. She is our sister. This isn't her fault." Dickie stated with a shrug. "I'm not happy about their affair either, but she is our sister."

Gemma waited until Dickie looked back at her before answering. "I work at that club, Barbwire, in downtown Manhattan. I'm in charge of the majority of the help there." She shrugged her shoulders. "But, I might be leaving soon."

"Just like we are now." Maureen said, standing up with her mom and sisters, Eli jumping up and down behind them.

Dickie rolled his eyes and reached his hand out, shaking Gemma's hand. "It was nice to meet you." He grabbed her phone off the table and swiped his thumb a few times. "Here's my number. Call me if you need your big brother." He stood up and jogged after the rest of his family.

Gemma stared at the phone for a moment before glancing over to Elliot, seeing his emotions catching up with him fast. "If you had let me pretend to be a nun, it would've gone over better." He let out a sad snort before a tear fell. She felt her own throat constrict. "Hey, you can't cry. If you cry, you're going to make me cry." She felt herself well up when his face turned another shade darker in red. She ducked under his arm, hugging her arms around his torso and laying her head on his chest. "Thank you."

Elliot wrapped his arms around her and kissed her head before looking over at Olivia, seeing her own tears spilling over. He reached out and pulled her over, wrapping that arm around her tightly and kissing her forehead.

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	18. Chapter 18

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Olivia laid her head back against the headrest of the car. After they had decided to leave the diner, Elliot wanted to go to Jimmy's club to scope out the building. He had insisted on the small stakeout, reaching hour number four inside the car. She glanced over at him, his eyes intent on the club. The redness and puffiness around his eyes was completely gone now. He looked like her partner again, Detective Elliot Stabler. "El, I'd understand if you wanted to go smooth things over with your kids. I'm sure Gemma would too."

"I need to be here for her on this." Elliot stated, glancing back at Gemma curled up on her side in the backseat, having fallen asleep nearly an hour ago. "Like you said, my kids will come around. Dickie nearly drooled over her until I explained she was his sister. The choices we made brought on this situation. The choice I made allowed me to be around my kids all the time while they were growing up. I thought giving her up would be better." He huffed out a breath. "Obviously not. Look at where we are. She needs us, and, frankly, we need her at this point."

"Giving her up for adoption didn't cause all of this. She just ended up in a bad situation, El." Olivia breathed, reaching over and cupping the back of his neck. She felt her throat constrict when he looked down at his lap. "Yes, we made a choice, and that altered her life forever. But, El, you can't blame yourself for how she turned out. Despite all she's been through, look at her." She smiled, a small chuckle escaping her. "She hasn't stopped busting your balls since she's met you, but it hasn't been over giving her up. She's a strong, independent girl. I don't think she turned out so bad."

Elliot grinned. "She's got more personality in her than both of us combined." He glanced over his shoulder at her, relaxing somewhat seeing her relaxed and peaceful. "I don't want her to go in there, Liv. He was the first person to take advantage of her. He's the one that got her in this mess."

Olivia sighed. "I don't want to let her in either, but," she pointed towards the club, "that's her life. If it means she's helping, she'll do whatever she wants to."

"Unfortunately, even a quality from us adoption couldn't prevent." Elliot mumbled. He turned in his seat, leaning over and nudging on Gemma's shoulder gently. "C'mon, Sister Maria, time to wake up. Your pimp's club is going to open in an hour."

Gemma groaned as she opened her eyes. "I bet you thought you'd never say those words together." She sat up, rubbing her eyes. "Jimmy would probably enjoy it if I showed up in a slutty nun costume."

Olivia jutted her chin towards the club. "Speaking of the Devil, we haven't seen him yet. Do you really think he'll be here?"

"He's here almost every night." Gemma nodded. "Besides, he practically lives there. It's one of those old buildings that used to have a speakeasy. The building has underground tunnels to the nearby buildings and hotels. Wherever those tunnels lead to, he owns those properties. He goes days without breathing the polluted Manhattan air. It's perfect for business. If a john comes into the club wanting a girl, Jimmy will tell them to stay at one of his hotels and sends his girls through the tunnels. The john walks into his room with the girl already there. Jimmy makes profits all around. He somehow made all the properties private with the city, so he can't be arrested in any of the buildings, even if they are technically public places."

"So, arresting him would be nearly impossible." Olivia concluded. She looked down at the clock on the car radio. "We need to get you ready for this. We have a bug for you to wear. It's just an audio recorder, no visual." She held it up. "We can clip it inside your shirt."

Gemma shook her head. "That won't work. I need to hit that in a piece of jewelry, and I need a dress." She clipped herself in with the seatbelt. "There's a shop around the corner that Jimmy owns. I can go in a get an outfit easily and without cash."

* * *

"How long does it take to buy a dress?" Elliot asked, his foot tapping on the floor of the car.

Olivia rolled her eyes. "Relax. She said she was going to do her hair and makeup as well. We didn't exactly want her to prepare for this before meeting your other kids." She sunk further into her seat, closing her eyes as hummed out a breath. "I saw Kathy was still as suspicious as ever. I guess we really can't blame her anymore, can we?"

Elliot smirked. "We can still tell her she's being paranoid. We had one night after a tough case. We gave up a child to keep the secret hidden from her, and we never had an incident after that. I wouldn't exactly call that an affair." He shrugged his shoulders. "She never suspected anything until we were partners for a couple years anyway. By the time she started accusing me, nothing was happening."

"And, now?" Olivia asked.

"You know my feelings." Elliot replied. "I'm not going anywhere. I'm just waiting for your answer."

Olivia opened her eyes and looked back at him, seeing his blue eyes crystal clear. "You make it sound simple."

Elliot chuckled. "You just overcomplicate it. It's a feeling, Liv. If you love me, we discuss the rest. If you don't, we remain what we are." He glanced up when the front door to the boutique opened. "Dress my ass. That's basically a scrap of material."

Olivia followed his gaze, finding Gemma walking out of the boutique in a dress with so many cut outs that more material was missing than actually on the dress. Her heels were a mile high and she had managed to blow out her own hair to near perfection. It was hard to believe her baby girl was just in the backseat forty minutes ago in jeans and a sweatshirt. "And, you used to think some of my undercover outfits were risqué."

"You looked like a God fearing school girl compared to our daughter." Elliot nearly growled before Gemma climbed into the backseat. "I thought you said you were getting a dress?"

Gemma rolled her eyes. "Sorry, they don't sell dresses to sing in the church choir." She buckled herself in again, huffing out a breath. "Believe me. I'm not happy to be wearing this either." She reached out her hand, grabbing the bug from the counsel and slipping it on the underside of her bracelet, happy that it blended in. "I'm just going to apologize for what you're going to hear tonight."

"Baby, we've probably heard worse. Nearly two decades in this unit, nothing really surprises you anymore." Olivia sighed, trying to make her daughter feel better about the situation she was about to put them all in.

"That may be, but it was never me." Gemma whispered. "And, what I have to do and say isn't me either."

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	19. Chapter 19

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Gemma brushed a strand of hair behind her ear as she walked passed the line of people waiting to get into Jimmy's club. "I'm about to head in. I'll let you know when I come out." She smiled up at Barry, the bouncer standing guard by the door, holding the red velvet ropes for the night. "Hey Barry."

"Hey baby doll, you here to see Jimmy?" He asked, his deep baritone cutting through the loud music pulsing out beats into the sidewalk.

"Yeah, I am." Gemma breathed before kissing his cheek. "Is he up in his office?"

Barry nodded. "Good luck. He ain't happy about Dale. Think he cut him loose last night. Pulled the kid in and he never walked out."

Gemma sighed and rubbed Barry's shoulder. "I was afraid of that." She gave Barry one last small smile before heading inside the club, bypassing the dancing crowd, nodding her hello to the regular bartender, and heading up the spiral staircase to Jimmy's office.

* * *

"I thought you guys said you were going to wait until we got here before you sent Gemma inside." Fin said as he and Amanda climbed into he backseat of Elliot and Olivia's car. "I barely recognized her in that dress."

Elliot frowned. "Do me a favor? Don't think about my daughter in that dress."

Amanda rolled her eyes. "Point is - you guys were supposed to wait. This is our case. You shouldn't have even had her today. She should be in jail for everything she's been doing." She looked at the phone sitting on the counsel when she heard club music blaring through it. "At least she's doing something to help the police this time."

"Would you shut up about my daughter?" Olivia asked, turning in her seat and staring daggers at her friend. "This may be your case, but I'm still your captain. She's a victim. If you continue your behavior like this, I would be way within my rights to kick you off the case and have you evaluated."

Amanda scoffed, but sat back in her seat. "Let's just see what you say when your daughter makes another deal with the devil."

* * *

Jimmy sat on his red velvet thrown, a glass of brandy dangling from his fingers, while he lounged like he was Tony Montana. With his hair slicked back and the cigar smoke floating up from his ashtray, Gemma knew his week hadn't been going as planned. The two guards by the door stood as stiff as statues as she stepped inside, greeted by the room that seemed to be multiplying in red velvet furniture every time she entered. Other than the gold finishings and the bizarre statues, the room was the color of blood, and she knew it was designed that way for more than just Jimmy's taste in decor.

Once the door closed behind her, Gemma huffed out a breath. "Hi Jimmy."

"That's all you have to say after everything that's happened?" Jimmy asked, his eyebrows raising. "What? No hello kiss. This is the longest we've gone without seeing each other in a long time, sweetheart. I figured I'd get a little more excitement."

Gemma let out a chuckle, more fueled by the tension in the room than his remark about her being excited to see him. "I didn't exactly see you jumping for joy when I walked in here."

Jimmy stood up and walked around his desk, setting his brandy down on the corner as he approached her. "I'll give you that." He cupped her face in his hands, his rings cold against her skin. Leaning down, he kissed her long and hard, moaning into her mouth. "Man, I missed you." He looked up at his guards. "I'd like the room with my girl."

Gemma watched as the two guards departed the room. Jimmy's hands dropped from her face, his body dropped back into the couch behind him. She remained standing, her arms crossed over her chest. "What happened, Jimmy? I haven't heard from Eric in a week, and Dale made a deal with the cops."

"Are you in trouble for that?" Jimmy asked. "Because if you are, I will take care of it."

Gemma shook her head. "They didn't find Dale credible. I'm fine." She watched as he picked at the loose strings of one of his throw pillows. She sighed before kneeling down between his legs, placing her hands on his knees. "Talk to me."

Jimmy glanced at her, his eyes still downcast. "I took care of Dale. As for Eric, Dale told me some deal went bad and one of the john's shot him dead on the spot. That's why Dale went to the cops. He freaked out, wanted out with protection. He wanted to pull you in for your arrest."

"Mine?" Gemma asked, her eyebrows furrowing.

"Yeah," Jimmy nodded, "I knew he didn't have anything on you. I run this place. But, he knew getting to you would eventually lead to me." He sighed and leaned forward, caressing Gemma's hair. "I took care of the john. The message was sent loud and clear to the others. Dale messaged you to meet him with Eric's phone. It was a set up, baby. But, I took care of it. You know I'd never let them get to you."

Gemma saw his emotions get to him and ran her thumb along his jaw, the scruff of his shadow scratching against her skin. "Hey, hey, shhh. I'm here, aren't I? I know that you take great care of me. My strong protector, I know."

Jimmy kissed her again, this time hungrier. "I need to be inside you. Now."

"You need to take a breath, Jimmy." Gemma panicked, her voice wavering as his hands reached for his belt. She cupped his face in her hands. "You've had a long week."

"And, being with you would help me forget it." Jimmy breathed before freeing himself. He kissed her again, his hands grabbing her thighs and lifting her easily onto his lap. "C'mon, baby, it's been too long. I know you got that boyfriend of yours at home, but you can't tell me he does you like I do." He pulled her hips down, swiftly thrusting inside her until she was completely on him.

Gemma bit her lip to keep from yelping, the burn shooting down her legs. When Jimmy started to rock her hips, she grabbed his shoulders. "Hold on." She panted. She felt his fingers dig into her hips, his impatience bound to leave bruises. "Like you said, it's been a while."

Jimmy smiled up at her and began kissing her neck. Gemma closed her eyes, resisting the urge to push herself off of him. As much as she loathed the man inside of her, he knew her body well enough to help her relax around him, and she wanted the encounter to be over. "Okay." She whispered, lifting her hips slightly. She cried out though when he grabbed her hips and nearly yanked her back down on him, controlling the tempo he desired.

* * *

Gemma fell to her back on the couch next to Jimmy, feeling the remains of them stick to her inner thighs. "So, what's the game plan? With Eric and Dale gone, my team is just me."

Jimmy crawled over top of her, resting his pelvis against hers. She was glad he had redone his pants at least. He pecked her lips. "I'm not giving you another team. I don't want you in the game anymore."

Gemma's eyes widened. "You're letting me out?"

"Not entirely." Jimmy stated. "I just want you for myself. You've been with me since before I was worth five hundred bucks. Half of my business is yours. So, it'll be you and me running things. I'll handle what I usually do, but you can help me with the johns. You know them better than I do, and you were always good at reading people."

"Wait," Gemma breathed, "you're pulling me out of the game to run it with you. Why?"

Jimmy stood up. "I'm tired of sharing you." He looked back down at her, watching as she sat up, bringing her knees to her chest. "Yes, you have your precious Danny, and I won't stop you from him. I just don't want to drive you to go screw some guy paying me money. We've been down that road. As good as we've gotten at picking johns, you took the brunt of the worst of them. I just think we both deserve to run this business instead of be in it."

"I don't know what to say." Gemma said. She bit her lip as she stood up. "But, thank you would be a good start I guess."

Jimmy smiled and kissed her forehead. "Now, go home. Get some sleep. I'll text you tomorrow."

* * *

Gemma walked out of the club, squeezing Barry's wrist reassuringly with a smile, before walking back down the sidewalk, the line now slightly shorter than it was when she arrived. She moved her hair again, remembering the bug on her bracelet. "I'm on my way." She breathed. Her strides slowed down as she rounded the corner, Jimmy's words and actions finally sinking in. When she looked up and saw the car, her feet stopped moving. Her whole body ached, and she felt exhausted. Her vision blurred when Elliot and Olivia got out of the car, and a sob ripped through her throat. "I'm sorry."

Olivia rushed over, wrapping her arms around Gemma and kissing her head. "Baby, you have nothing to apologize for." She teared up herself and closed her eyes when she felt Elliot wrap his arms around both of them. "I'm sorry. I didn't want to put you through that." She cupped the back of Gemma's head and buried her nose in her hair. "We're going to get him, baby. One way or another, we'll get him. He won't ever hurt you again."

Gemma pulled back and pulled off the bracelet with shaking hands. She held it out to Olivia. "I don't want it."

Olivia took the bracelet, seeing the bug still attached neatly on the inside of it. Her fingers tightened around it, the anger boiling as she realized just how this all started. She kissed Gemma's head again as she huddled into Elliot's embrace, nearly melding against him as if trying to hide from the world. She turned back to the car where Fin and Amanda stood. She marched around the car to them, dropping the bracelet into Amanda's hands. "So, what that enough for you? Or would you rather have gotten it on video?"

Amanda's bangs fell in front of her eyes as she looked down at the bug. "Liv, I-"

"Save it." Olivia spat. "Still think she's guilty? Still think this was willingly? Still think she should be in jail, Amanda?" She gritted her teeth together and pointed to the car she and Fin arrived in. "Leave, and, next time you say something about my daughter, it better be about how you owe her for this evidence she just got for you."

 **Please review! I know I updated this story a couple days ago, but I got this idea a few hours ago, and I had to run with it.**


	20. Chapter 20

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Elliot stood gripping Olivia's kitchen counter with white knuckles as he recalled the passed few hours his daughter had just experienced. He knew her job. Knew what the girls were like. Knew what they went through. But, it was a completely different gut-wrenching burn to listen to his daughter be put through it. Olivia stood next to him, turned in the opposite direction, staring up at the cabinets behind him. They had both remained relatively quiet since they arrived back at her apartment, only speaking when Noah would look over at them with a question. They both jerked from their trains of thought when they heard Olivia's bedroom door open.

Gemma walked out fresh from her shower in new clothes. She had dried her hair to the point where it was fluffy, probably trying to waste time to hide the evidence that she had been crying. But, the redness around her eyes and on the tip of her nose were dead giveaways. Completely ignoring her parents for the time being, she smiled when Noah rushed over to her. "Hey buddy."

Noah frowned looking up at her. "Why were you crying?"

"Why do you think I've been crying?" Gemma asked, crouching down in front of him.

"Because, you're eyes are red like Mommy's when she cries." Noah stated, pointing to her eyes. "I don't want you to be sad."

Gemma forced a smile on her face. "I'm okay. I just had a bad day." She tickled his sides, causing him to laugh. "I think it's almost your bedtime. Shouldn't you be getting ready for bed?"

Olivia walked out of the kitchen and smiled at Noah. "Yes, you should be." She lifted him up. "Let's go. You can come out and say goodnight in a couple of minutes." She walked back towards Noah's room, glancing from Elliot to Gemma before she disappeared.

Elliot nodded and watched as Gemma slowly sat down across from him, playing with her semi-dry hair. "Do you want to talk about what happened today? I understand why you're upset about it."

Gemma faked another soft smile. "I'm fine."

"Gemma, you cried all the way here and in the shower. You're obviously not fine." Elliot choked out.

"And, after all that, I'm fine." Gemma repeated. She avoided his eyes. "I consented to everything that happened in that room today. There's no reason for me to be upset about it. I got myself into this mess. Amanda is right. I'm the bad guy here."

Elliot leaned forward. "You are not the bad person in this case. You are a victim too." His voice broke when she shook her head, tears welling in her eyes again. "What happened today - obviously, you didn't want that. You might have let it happen, but you knew that he would take it one way or another. You were surviving, Gem. You weren't playing the bad guy. I listened in on that bug too, and I knew that you tried to prevent what happened."

Gemma pulled her feet up onto the stool, hugging her knees to his chest as Elliot continued. "I don't care how many times that happened or how many times you did or didn't say no. You didn't want it, baby. Just because you aren't saying no, doesn't mean you are consenting."

"I don't want to talk about this anymore." Gemma whispered before standing up. She saw Elliot open his mouth to speak again, but interrupted him. "I'm fine. It happened. It's over." She walked around the couch and grabbed the blanket before wrapping it around herself and laying down on the couch. "Goodnight."

* * *

Gemma woke up in a cold sweat, sitting up on the couch quickly and wildly searching the apartment. She covered her chest with a hand, the other running through her hair when she took in her surroundings, finding her mother's apartment instead of the room of red velvet. Her heart rate slowed down as she turned to see Elliot sleeping soundly in the recliner. She stood up, taking her blanket with her, before standing over Elliot. She bit her lip as she leaned down and pushed on his shoulder gently. He stirred in his sleep, and she contemplated going back to the couch when his eyes finally opened.

"Hey," Elliot breathed, stretching slightly before seeing it was still dark outside. He squinted up at her. "What's wrong?"

"Can I. . .uh," Gemma started. She bit her lip again, glancing back towards the couch, "um, could I sleep with you?"

Elliot nodded and held out his arms. "Yeah, come on." He wrapped his arms around her when she curled up into his lap, nearly pulling herself into a ball huddled into his neck. He kissed her head, adjusting the blankets so she wouldn't get cold. "You okay?"

Gemma shook her head. "No, I'm really not." She sniffled slightly. "I didn't want you to hear that today. Even after all these years, I still can't handle what he does. What he puts me through. That can't be normal. Don't women just become numb to it at some point?"

"Only when they don't care anymore." Elliot whispered, holding her tighter. "What you're feeling is completely normal. He's hurting you, baby. You can't just put that aside like nothing happened." He leaned down, pressing his forehead against hers. "As for your mother and I hearing, well, I won't lie. I didn't want to hear that, but it's probably someone out there getting back at me for giving you up."

"You really think someone is up in heaven actually hurting me to spite you?" Gemma asked. "And, you voluntarily go to this Church every Sunday."

Elliot chuckled, glad that she was still using her sarcasm, a step up from a few hours prior. "No, but I think charma has finally caught up to me. What I did. . .I chose to hide you away from my life in order to keep everyone in the dark about the truth. As much as I wanted to keep you, I just figured one kid in a better home would be better than four kids, at the time, knowing their father was a cheater."

Gemma laid her head on his shoulder. "I chose this life. Charma had nothing to do with this." She huffed out a breath. "Now, I'm more in the business than I ever thought I would be." She closed her eyes when Elliot's arm wrapped around her back, keeping her close to him. She felt the cotton ball in her throat swell, a slight pain accompanying it. "I don't know what to do."

"Hey, we're going to get you out of this." Elliot whispered, feeling her tremble slightly. He kissed her forehead, pressing his nose into her hair. "I'm right here. I'm not going to let anything happen to you as long as I'm around. Okay? Baby, we're going to take care of this." He teared up himself feeling his daughter finally crack through her tough exterior. "I've got you. I'm not letting go."

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	21. Chapter 21

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Olivia rubbed her eyes as she walked into her kitchen, moving to the coffee pot immediately and turning it on for her morning routine. But, she forgot about everything when she looked in the living room to see Gemma curled up on Elliot's lap, sleeping soundly. Elliot, on the other hand, looked like he hadn't slept a wink since the night before. She hurried out to the living room. "What happened?"

"Is she using your shampoo?" Elliot asked, half out of it.

"Yeah, she uses my vanilla bean one. Why?" Olivia asked, furrowing her eyebrows as she sat on the arm rest of the couch.

Elliot finally turned to look at her. "She smells like green apples." He leaned his head over, resting his head on Gemma's. "Just like when she was a baby. Who knew, huh? I never thought green apples would mean so much."

Olivia moved to sit on the coffee table in front of him, hoping to maintain some eye contact with him. "El, you're scaring me. What is going on?"

"She couldn't sleep. She finally cracked, Liv." Elliot stated, his voice sounding like a verbal shrug. "Our baby girl finally cracked. And, I've been up all night thinking about how selfish I was back then. I sent her away. I couldn't bear the thought of upsetting a wife I couldn't stand, so I gave my baby girl away. Look what happened. We could've done so much better. We could've raised her together, watched her grow. Instead of giving into the pressure and selling herself, we could've helped her when times got tough. She'd have a life. She wouldn't have cracked." He teared up, his hands forming fists, visible even under the quilt covering them and Gemma. "I broke our little girl, Liv."

Olivia teared up and leaned forward. "El, you can't think like that." She rested her hands on his knees when he started shaking his head. "El, even if she had been here, she's a proud girl. She wouldn't have come to us with her problems, even if we had been the ones living with her. Danny was the best person in her life, and she kept it hidden from him. If we had kept her, our lives would be completely different. You and I might not have the relationship we have now. Once someone found out Gemma was yours, we would've been split as partners." She caressed his cheek, a single tear falling down hers. "I didn't want to give her up either, but we both know that things could've turned out a lot worse than they are now."

Elliot's blue eyes met her brown ones. "She's our baby, Liv. The last time I held her, I could practically do it with one hand. She was completely dependent on us, and we turned our backs on her."

"We gave her the best chance we thought possible." Olivia breathed, trying to get through to him. "Look at what we've been through. Did you really want to put her through that? The attacks, the hostage situations, our fights, our kidnappings?" She shook her head. "It would've been painful for her to see us like that, to be put through any one of those situations let alone all of them." She leaned forward and pressed her lips against Elliot's. "Please, don't put yourself through that. I know we didn't picture this for her or for us, but it's better than a lot of the people we've met in our careers. Let's just focus on that."

Elliot held his daughter tighter, but he listened to Olivia's words. He knew in his head that things could've been a lot worse depending on what happened over the years if something had been different. He just couldn't stand to see the strong woman his daughter had become crumble before him in a mass of tears and exhaustion. "What are we going to do about Amanda? She's trying to put her away, Liv. She wants to put our baby in prison."

Olivia shook her head. "After what happened yesterday, nobody in the squad room would let her lay a hand on Gemma." She leaned forward, brushing back some of Gemma's hair. "You smelled it too, huh?"

"I don't understand how she could still smell like green apples." Elliot agreed with her, letting out a small smile after hours of tormenting himself. "You did eat a lot of fruit when you were pregnant with her."

"If we were to go by what I ate, she would smell like kiwi." Olivia chuckled before standing up. She caressed his cheek. "You know this is our fault, right?"

Elliot nodded and wrapped his hand around hers, squeezing it reassuringly. "Yeah, it's just going to take a little time for me to accept it."

Olivia squeezed back before letting his hand go. "Do you want coffee?"

"I think I'll try to sleep a little before then. I think we deserve a day off from this." Elliot yawned. "I know she could definitely use a break from all of this. The case, our entrance into her life, it hasn't exactly been an easy time for her. Plus, now she finds out she's going to be running a sex trafficking business with her rapist/business partner. She's only eighteen. I'm a full grown adult, and I'm still trying to get caught up with everything."

"Well, then catch up on your sleep. I'm going to get Noah ready and off to school." Olivia said before sipping her own coffee. "I'll call Fin and see where the case is. Hopefully, they did some digging last night, and they have some answers for us to finally get Gemma off prison's target list."

* * *

Olivia walked out of Noah's school as she pressed her cell phone to her ear, jogging back towards the sidewalk and to her car. She fiddled with her keys when the other line finally answered. Tutuola." Fin's voice sounded through.

"Tell me you and Amanda found something." Olivia said as she climbed into her car, shoving the keys into the ignition before locking the car. She leaned back into the leather set, closing her eyes as she dropped her head back. "Please tell me there is evidence against this guy so we can slap some cuffs on him."

"Well, we found evidence that basically confirms everything Gemma has been telling us. At least, all the things that she didn't lie to us about in the beginning." Fin said. "The club is private property, but he has permits for, and I quote, a regular and loud house party. It's one of the oldest buildings in the city. She knows this building. He owns the whole block, and there are tunnels to every building. Catching this guy outside of them is going to be like waiting for the Godfather to finally let somebody live."

Olivia sighed. "So, Jimmy is protected."

Fin nodded. "Very. Luckily, we don't have to worry about his relationships to anyone of a certain power or money status. He's kept his profile pretty low-key despite the pimp side business. He's probably laundering those funds through the club to look legit to the IRS."

"Well, he took thousands from Gemma's boyfriend, Danny, to buy her out of the business. Jimmy only considered it a payment for a period of time longer than a few hours in a car." Olivia reminded him. "You listened to him yesterday, Fin. He has an attachment to my daughter. He's not afraid to hurt her, but he thinks that his hurting is actually helping or pleasing her."

"The most dangerous kind of predator in cases like this." Fin breathed before shaking his head. "He does have a rap sheet though, and you'll never believe what he was picked up for."

Olivia lifted her head, her eyes opening. "What?"

Fin smirked. "Solicitation of a minor." He lifted up the rap sheet, Jimmy's mug shot plastered at the top of it with his birth information. "And, the minor was one Gemma Benson. It happened right outside of our jurisdiction two years ago." He set down the paper. "If they had been one street closer, it would've been our case."

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	22. Chapter 22

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Olivia furrowed her eyebrows as she walked into her apartment, finding Gemma glaring at Elliot and Elliot frustrated with Gemma. Neither one of them even glanced her way as she entered. "What's going on?"

"I told Gemma that I wanted her to take a day away from the case, but she insists that she's fine." Elliot snapped, cocking his head as he continued to stare at his daughter. "She won't admit that she's having a hard time."

"I'll have a hard time until this case is closed." Gemma stated. "A day alone here isn't going to do anything Jimmy said he was going to be texting me today. I could use the distraction of an interrogation or an interview or whatever you want to call it." She turned to Olivia. "I just want this to all be over with."

Olivia wrapped her fingers around her keys and nodded before looking to Elliot. "El?"

"No."

"El, this is her choice." Olivia stated, her voice soft but firm. "I called Fin, and they have some information. Other than the tape from yesterday, we don't have anything concrete. He admitted to giving Gemma to johns along with other girls, but we need to smoke him out of his club." She could see the vein in his neck protrude out under his skin. "If you don't want to go-"

Elliot cut her off, turning to grab his jacket. "If she's going, I'm going." He looked back at Gemma, tossing her jacket to her. "Ready?"

* * *

Elliot fumed as he, Gemma, and Olivia rode on the elevator up to the squad room. He knew this was Gemma's choice. He knew that she was just trying to make everything go faster. But after last night, watching her shatter into a million pieces, he wanted to keep her as far from all of this as possible. He wasn't even mad at her, just the situation. But, he hadn't said a word to either of them since they left the apartment. Every attempt they made to get him to lighten up was worthless, ending in him only giving grunts as answers to questions or comments.

Gemma cleared her throat as she stared at the number indicating what floors they were passing. "Do you think everyone in that room has listened to the tape from yesterday?" Her voice sounded small, not broken, but nervous.

"I'm sure Amanda and Fin only kept it between themselves." Olivia reassured her. "It's their case."

When the elevator doors opened, Gemma reached and clutched onto Elliot's hand, squeezing it tightly. Elliot turned to her, his anger dissipating when he saw a scared teenage girl. She wasn't the tough as nails girl who was always making fun of him. She was genuinely scared and needed his support. Using his free hand, he cupped the back of her head and kissed her forehead. "Listen to me. This is the last place in the world where you need to be scared or worried or embarrassed. We're all here to fight for you."

Olivia rubbed Gemma's back. "C'mon, baby. We'll make this as quick as possible." She kissed Gemma's cheek before squeezing Elliot's arm as a silent 'thank you'.

Elliot squeezed Gemma's hand reassuringly as they walked out towards the squad room. She kept close to him. Her tough as nails exterior was back, heels clicking on the concrete floors below her. She looked like a woman in charge, but he could feel the tremors in her hand resting in his. "We're not going anywhere. We'll be with you the entire time." He whispered.

As they entered the squad room, Fin and Amanda stood up with files in hand, holding back questions. Beside them, Carisi, back from vacation, walked over with a smile and his hand outstretched. "You must be Gemma. I'm Detective Carisi."

"Nice to meet you." Gemma smiled, letting go of Elliot's hand and shaking Carisi's. "I haven't seen you around."

"I was on vacation. I guess I chose a terrible time, because I missed a lot of information." Carisi stated, glancing over at Olivia. "She looks like you."

Olivia chuckled with a nod. "I've been told." She saw Elliot furrow his eyebrows. "She has her dad's eyes though."

Carisi turned his attention to Elliot, making no move to shake his hand or smile at him. "So, you're the ex-partner who just walked out on her with no good reason. Glad to see you could show up for this."

"This again? Couldn't this have all been taken care of in an assembly line or something?" Gemma questioned with a roll of her eyes. "Quit busting his balls. That's what I was created for." She fell silent when Amanda walked over, clearly nervous about coming over. "I'm not wearing cuffs again today."

Amanda shook her head. "I wasn't going to take them out." She glanced back at Fin. "But, we do have some more questions for you." She turned to Olivia. "I know that you probably have some work you want to do. We can hold off on questioning her if you want to be there."

Olivia shook her head. "Let me just catch up on the cases. I'll bring my paperwork home with me, so we can get this over with." She rested her hand on Gemma's back, using her other to point to the conference room off of her office. "I'll meet you in there in a couple minutes."

Carisi watched as Olivia walked into her office before turning back to Gemma. "Well, I'm going downstairs to pick up some breakfast. Can I get you anything? A coffee, a donut? I think they might have scones."

"I'm not picky. Surprise me." Gemma smiled with a shrug.

When Carisi walked away, Elliot leaned over to her, gently grabbing her arm. "What are you doing?"

"What? He was cute." Gemma breathed. "Hey!" She whined when Elliot dragged her into Olivia's office. "She said the conference room." When Elliot let her go, she straightened out her shirt, huffing out a breath.

"I can't leave you two alone for a minute." Olivia sighed, half amused at how childish they were around each other.

Elliot pointed out to the squad room. "She was hitting on one of the detectives."

"Please, that was mild flirting at best." Gemma stated with a roll of her eyes. She looked over at her mother. "That Carisi guy. What's his situation?" Olivia's eyes widened. "Really? You too? I can't think a cop is cute. If anything, you should be happy I'm interested in a cop."

"Yes, but I doubt he's interested in eighteen year olds." Olivia retorted, rubbing her forehead. "Just go to the conference room. And, don't flirt with my detectives. You're profession has made you way too good at it."

Gemma walked over to the conference room with Elliot trailing closely behind her. "You two are no fun."

* * *

"This was when you were sixteen." Amanda stated, laying out photos of a beat up Gemma and mug shots of Jimmy. "Jimmy was arrested that night for solicitation of a minor. The john who paid for you beat you up pretty good before the cop came over to stop it."

"Busted two of my ribs." Gemma breathed, picking up the picture of her bruised face. "Jimmy accused me of having the cops nearby to bust him. When I got out of the hospital, he beat me up again to prove his point. "Jimmy wouldn't even let me press charges against the guy. Said I deserved to be beat up for allowing a cop to catch me. Last I heard, the guy killed himself by swallowing a gun barrel."

Fin pointed to her rap sheet. "There's two charges like these. What happened the other time?"

"Ironically, it was the night before my seventeenth birthday. The same cop drove by as Jimmy was giving me my cut from my. . .services." Gemma shifted in her seat. "I couldn't really deny. All the girls were getting their cut. At that time, there were only a few of us. Out of all of us, I'm the only one left who can still make a profit for Jimmy."

Amanda flipped a page in their notepad. "Who were they and what happened to them?"

Gemma shrugged. "I just knew their escort names, but we were all busted that night with Jimmy. Angel died from an overdose last year. Tina and Viv both went missing after a john rented them for a night. Once Jimmy realized what was gong on, he took care of the john." She ran a hand through her hair. "Beth. . .she was in deep with Jimmy. She hated that I was his favorite. Didn't realize how much I hated being his favorite. One night, she came at me with a box cutter and cut my arm. Jimmy hung her from the ceiling fan and took me to the hospital."

"When was that?" Amanda asked.

"A few months after the second bust." Gemma whispered, staring blankly ahead. "The only reason I'm not dead is because I haven't crossed Jimmy. If he finds out about any of this, I'm dead. It doesn't matter how fucked over he is about me. His freedom means more to him than my life."

Fin shook his head, reaching over and patting her hand. "He won't get away."

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	23. Chapter 23

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"Do you think I'm a bad person?" Gemma asked Olivia, sitting across from her mother in her office. Elliot had left to get lunch for the three of them, almost demanding that they leave for Olivia's apartment once he got back. The morning had been rough, reliving old wounds and memories of Jimmy. And, Gemma was finally starting to see how instrumental she was in Jimmy's climb to the top.

Olivia's eyes widened as she looked over her glasses at her daughter. She quickly dropped her pen and removed the frames over her eyes to dedicate her full attention to her. "Of course, I don't. I think you've been misguided, but you are far from a bad person."

Gemma pointed over her shoulder towards Amanda's desk. "Your detective thinks I'm a monster. I guess I really can't blame her. I'm worse than Jimmy. I've been recruiting these girls to do what I'm doing, and then I act all high and righteous about it saying how horrible it is." She bit her lip, sighing heavily. "I'm a hypocrite."

"Hey, you're being hard on yourself." Olivia said, trying to comfort her daughter. "You didn't choose this for yourself."

"But, I did." Gemma fought back, her voice soft yet firm. "Danny and I could've found another way to get by. I didn't have to get into this line of work. I was happy with my old job. It was shit pay, but it was better than climbing into the backseat of a car for a few hundred dollars."

Olivia resisted the urge to cringe. The pain of listening to her daughter be raped by Jimmy was still raw. Thinking of her being trapped in a car with men who only saw her the same way made her sick to her stomach. "What did you do before?"

Gemma shrugged, curling up in the chair with her knees against her chest. "I was a hostess at this fancy restaurant uptown. Tips were amazing, but they overstaffed and cut me down to fifteen hours a week. With Jimmy, I made three times more than what I made there on a good night." She ran a hand through her hair, nearly caving in on herself. "I brought over thirty girls to Jimmy. Some of them have been killed by him. Some committed suicide. The ones that are still in are either shooting up to cope, or they've adapted to a similar situation I'm in. I'm responsible for them."

"Those girls were in the same place that you were in." Olivia breathed, moving around her desk to sit next to Gemma. "You had no idea what they would do once they were in."

Gemma smiled sadly, shaking her head. "You're looking at me with your mommy eyes. If I weren't a rape victim, if I weren't your daughter, you would've been glad to throw me in jail when Amanda cuffed me."

Olivia cupped Gemma's face in her hands. "Hey, I may be a little biased because you're my daughter, but you being a rape victim in this situation only proves to everyone else you were surviving. You didn't want what Jimmy did yesterday, and you knew what he would do if you refused. Your statement this morning - it only tells everybody that you did what you did to survive. You're a survivor, not a monster."

Gemma huffed out a breath. "Barely surviving." She reached out and wrapped her arms around Olivia's neck in a hug. "You're good at this."

"I should be after doing it for as long as I have." Olivia whispered. She pulled back, resting her forehead against Gemma's. "Feel better?"

"Ask again in a few hours." Gemma sighed. She exhaled sharply, a playful smile reaching her lips to try and distract from her red eyes. "I never thought I'd have parents who understand what I'm going through. As painful as it is, it's nice to not be alone like it has been for years."

Olivia gave her own pained smile. "I know how you feel." She glanced out at the squad room, seeing Elliot arrive with their lunch. He stopped to catch up with one of the detectives they both used to work with as partners. Despite her anger towards him for ditching her, she was glad she wasn't alone anymore.

Gemma chuckled seeing her mother stare not so subtly at her father. She wiped at the corners of her eyes, hoping to hide the evidence before Elliot could notice. "He loves you. You know that, right?"

"I know." Olivia nodded. "It's just hard to move on from what happened. There's a lot of history. A lot of history that I never expected him to just walk away from." She bit her lip, squeezing Gemma's hand. "We've both suffered, but he disappeared from my life for years. He was the one person I could trust most in the world, and he just confirmed that everyone leaves at one point or another."

"You might not have seen him, but you are his entire world." Gemma breathed. "Other than me, of course."

Olivia laughed at her daughter's brief moment of actually acting like a teenage girl. She shook her head, slowly. "You believe in fairytales."

Gemma rolled her eyes. "I loathe fairytales. I really doubt Snow White was entertaining the seven dwarves to make rent each month." She nudged Olivia's shoulder. "Give him a chance. He can't be the same person that left all those years ago if he's sticking around now. I know it isn't just for me. Besides," she shrugged her shoulders, "if he decides to bolt again, we can kill him, cremate him, and keep his ashes in an urn in your living room. You'll have him forever."

Olivia covered Gemma's mouth while laughing, smiling wider when Gemma giggled under her palm. "We'll just kill him, huh?"

"Alright, I got sodas and Chinese. All the favorites." Elliot stated as he walked in, smiling when he saw the scene before him. "Should I come back later when there's a winner or should I be taking bets?"

* * *

Olivia picked through her Chinese container when Elliot walked out of her bedroom, quietly closing the door behind him. He gave her a quick smile as he joined her at the counter to eat his own lunch. "She's completely out. Hopefully, she'll catch up on the sleep she lost last night." He said before shoving his fork into his mouth. He frowned when he saw that she had barely touched her food. "What's wrong?"

"Hard to say exactly." Olivia whispered before biting her lip. "Our daughter is very perceptive. She wants me to give you a chance."

"What do you want?" Elliot asked, setting aside his food slowly. He watched as Olivia opened her mouth to speak but quickly closed it with a shake of her head. When he could see her eyes turn over glossy, he felt his own emotions getting to him. "I'll do whatever you want, Liv."

Olivia sighed. "I want to know that you'll stay." She stood from her barstool and walked around the counter, craving some space between them. "If you're going to leave when Gemma does, then tell me. Because, I can't go through another five years of moving on passed my best friend who just up and leaves for no apparent reason." She didn't dare meet his eyes, training her vision on the floor. "I don't want anymore lead ons or familiar moments if you're just going to walk away when all is said and done. It's not-" Her sentence was cut short when Elliot pressed his lips against hers, cupping her face in his hands.

Her hands immediately clasped onto his belt loops, pulling him closer as his mouth melded with hers. His body pushed her up against the fridge, the heat from him making her hotter with each passing second. When she felt the heat pool between her thighs, she pushed slightly on his chest, removing her lips from his.

Elliot took a step back to give her some breathing room, but his hands moved to the fridge on either side of her face. His blue eyes seemed to pierce her soul. "I'm know it isn't easy for you to trust people, and I don't blame you for not trusting me or my intentions after what I did. Just know that I'm not going anywhere until you tell me to. I love you. Took me nearly twenty years to finally get that off my chest, but I'm saying it now. Five years without you only proved to me that you are a piece of myself that I need, because I nearly destroyed myself trying to get over you."

He leaned in again, this time kissing her forehead tenderly. "I can't get over you, and I don't ever plan on trying ever again. I'm here to stay. I'll wait the rest of my life to get a chance from you."

"What if I'm not what you want?" Olivia asked, Ed Tucker's words about her never being truly happy ringing in her ears. "What if I give you a chance and you find out I'm not the person you wanted?"

"Olivia, I've known you for half of my life. You know I don't pick things just at random or without a lot of internal reasoning." Elliot smirked, his voice gentle. "You were the easiest decision I have ever made. I've gone about it all the wrong ways, but it took me a split second to fall in love with you. It hasn't changed since our daughter was born. It didn't change with Gitano or with the FBI gig or with any of our cases. If anything, I wanted you more."

Olivia scoffed. "You're lying."

"I swear on the Bible." Elliot raised his right hand. "And if you'd have a bible in your apartment, I'd get it to prove my point." He smiled when she finally let out a small laugh, her brown eyes sparkling once again. "Whether you want to love me or not, be with me or not, I'll always love you. I'm not going anywhere, Benson."

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	24. Chapter 24

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Olivia pulled her hair up and clipped it as she emerged from her room. When she saw Gemma on the couch with Noah ordering takeout on her phone, she smiled and moved to take sodas out of the fridge. "What are we having tonight?"

"Noah and I ordered a pizza." Gemma stated before standing up. She kept her eyes trained on the TV as she played against Noah in his video game. Using her fingers to manipulate the controller, she managed to pick up Elliot's keys with a spare finger and tossed them onto the counter in front of Olivia. "You and Elliot are going out."

"I've already resigned myself to a sports bra. I'm not changing again." Olivia stated, pushing the keys away from her slightly. She looked back towards the bathroom door when Elliot walked out in sweats and a t-shirt. "Even your father has those stained sweats on. We can't go out."

Gemma rolled her eyes. "Go to a diner or something. You two need to get out away from kids and talk." She used her elbow to nudge the keys back towards them. "If you don't go, Noah and I will go find something to do in the city."

Elliot frowned. "You can't take him to one of the parties you go to. Child protective services would be called."

"Ha ha. Funny." Gemma fake laughed, sarcasm dripping from her words. She used the controller to pause the game and turned to them both. "Noah and I have both decided we can't stand the tension anymore. You two need to talk through your stuff so you can get together. We both think we deserve a Mommy and Daddy who are together and married."

"Or at least dating." Noah added in, jumping up slightly on the couch.

"Noah!" Olivia gasped, eyes wide with shock.

Noah shrugged his shoulders. "We just want you to be happy, Mommy." He crawled over the sofa and onto Gemma's back, clinging onto her like a monkey. "We have food coming. We've got this."

Elliot chuckled at the seriousness in the child's tone. "You've got this, huh? What kind of pizza did you two get?"

"Hawaiian." Noah smirked.

Elliot snatched his keys from the counter and made a bee-line for the door. "Liv, let's get some burgers. There is no way I'm going to stay in an apartment that allows fruit on pizza." He opened the front door and looked back at her, making a gesture for her to follow him. "You can even have food off my plate."

Olivia rolled her eyes as she complied. "We'll probably get the same thing anyway." She grabbed her wallet out of her purse and slipped it inside her sweatshirt pocket. "He better be in bed by eight if we're not back."

"He will." Gemma called as she and Noah started the game back up. "Have fun."

Elliot pulled a twenty out of his pocket and slapped it down on the coffee table. "I might not agree with your food choices, but I'm a father first and foremost." He kissed Gemma's forehead and ruffled Noah's hair. "We'll bring back dessert if we get any. No scary movies or inviting boys over."

Gemma smirked. "Oh, you ruined my whole night." She pushed on his chest, shoving him towards the door. "Go before sound anymore cliche."

* * *

"Thank you." Elliot smiled as the waitress set down his and Olivia's burgers. Although they had spent the entire car ride debating on where to go, they ended up passing their old diner and decided it was casual enough for the clothes they were wearing.

When the waitress walked away, Olivia snatched the ketchup bottle and started coating her burger and fries. She glanced up at Elliot as he reached for the mustard. "Never thought I'd be kicked out of my own apartment by my kids."

"I'm just glad they didn't pound down the door to the bathroom. It's funny the first time, but it gets annoying after it happens four or five times." Elliot stated before biting into his burger. He quickly reached for his soda and took a sip of it before noticing Olivia barely eating. She had a fry in between her fingers, twirling it in the pool of ketchup. "What's wrong? I know you're hungry. I thought your stomach was going to eat me on the way over here."

Olivia sighed and leaned back against the leather booth seat. "Our child who should hate us wants us to be together. She literally forced us out together to talk about our relationship. I'm not even sure where we are at this point. I don't know whether I should hate you or love you. I'm pretty sure it's both at this point. How are we supposed to figure out nearly twenty years of partnership, friendship, betrayal, skating around the truth in one conversation over burgers?"

Elliot grinned, resting his elbows on the table as she continued to play with her fries. "Do you want to be with me?"

"It's not that simple." Olivia whispered, tossing her food onto her plate and wiping her fingers off on her napkin.

"It's a yes or no question." Elliot retorted, trying to make some sort of eye contact with her. "Do you want to be with me?"

Olivia sighed, crossing her arms over her chest and sliding down slightly in the booth. She was trying to look anywhere but at him, but he was seeking her out. It felt like a ton of bricks were weighing down on her chest just knowing the truth. "Yes." She breathed. "But, we can't just say let's be together and jump in. Life isn't that simple, Elliot."

Elliot shrugged his shoulders. "Why can't it be?" She finally met his eyes, making him smirk. "The only reason it's complicated is because you make it that way. If we want to be together, what's stopping us?"

"How about the fact that we have a daughter who barely knows us? If we break up, she's the one who gets hurt the most. How about your kids? They despise me after we told them about Gemma. How about the fact that we've loved each other for nearly twenty years, and we've been perfectly fine with and without each other?" Olivia demanded to know. "There are too many reasons why we shouldn't be together."

Elliot shook his head, smiling at her comfortingly. "First of all, we are getting to know our daughter. She's the one who practically begged us to go out to dinner tonight. Who says we break up anyway? And, if we do, which I highly doubt, it won't be the end of the world for her. I think we've learned by now that she's an extremely strong girl. Second of all, yes, my kids despise you. They despise me. Hell, they probably hold resentment against Gemma. They will get over it. Kids are resilient that way. Once they come around, it won't be a problem." He reached out, moving her plate aside and motioning for her to take his hand. She rolled her eyes but complied, taking both his hands into hers and staring at them. "As for loving you for twenty years, that is all the more reason for us to get together, and I think we can both agree we can live without each other. Anybody can live on their own, Liv."

He leaned forward, resting his forehead against hers. "The big question is whether or not you were happy without me. My life without you led me down to become an alcoholic and divorcing my high school sweetheart. Without you, Liv, I'll never be happy."

Olivia scoffed with a smile. "Someone accused me of not letting myself be happy." She squeezed Elliot's hands, exhaling sharply. "This scares the shit out of me."

"I know. It scares me too." Elliot agreed before caressing her cheek. "But, it scares me more to not be with you."

* * *

"We're back." Elliot called out into the apartment. He frowned when the TV was off and neither kid was in sight. "Well, where are they?"

"The light is on in Noah's room." Olivia breathed as she walked over to his bedroom with Elliot following. She smiled and leaned against the doorway when she saw Gemma and Noah fast asleep on his bed, a children's book laying open on top of them. "I think the day finally caught up with both of them."

Elliot's smile mirrored hers. "Good. She needs her sleep." When Olivia turned out the light, he reached to close the door when Gemma's phone went off on Noah's nightstand. Quietly moving around the sleeping pair, he snatched up Gemma's phone and returned to Olivia's side before closing the door behind him. "She'll probably want this charged up for tomorrow."

"I think her charger is on the kitchen counter." Olivia stated before the phone went off again. "Who is messaging her?"

Elliot plugged in the phone and swiped the screen to see six missed calls and fifteen unread text messages. "They're from Jimmy." He dragged down the top screen to see what the messages said without opening them. "He wants to see her again."

Olivia crossed her arms over her chest, shaking her head. "She's not going near him."

"He knows she's here." Elliot whispered before turning the phone to Olivia. Taken only a day earlier, the screen was covered with a photo of Gemma sleeping on Elliot's lap in the recliner. "He knows how to get to her."

 **Please review! I know it's been a few weeks, but thanks so much for being patient. I actually had college graduation this past Friday, so I've been preparing for that and finishing up my classes for the month. Love you guys and Merry Christmas!**


	25. Chapter 25

**Please review!**

Olivia continued to stare down at Gemma's phone as Elliot paced the length of her apartment, going back and forth between the front door and her bedroom. "You're going to wear a hole in my floor if you keep going much longer."

"I'm sorry. I'll change paths." Elliot said, sarcastically before pacing the width of her apartment. When he glanced back at her, she glared at him with an eyebrow raised. He immediately dropped his shoulders and took a seat on a barstool. "Sorry. Every time I was in a situation like this before, I was a cop. I had authority to call in favors. Now, I think most of my favors disappeared when I did all those years ago."

"I don't even know what favors to call in." Olivia whispered before dropping onto her elbows on the counter. She buried her face in her hands, but met Elliot's eyes when he tugged on her arms, linking their hands together. "There's no way Jimmy took the pictures. He wouldn't risk leaving the safety of his property just to take a picture."

Elliot nodded. "But, he might leave if he thinks he needs to take care of Gemma." He ran a hand down his face, shaking his head. "How did he find her? We didn't have anyone following us from the club. He basically promoted her. There was no red flag for him to follow her."

Olivia bit her lip and tried to remember the information that Gemma had given them in all her interviews. "She's never talked about him following her, but he is a businessman. With her being his most trusted. . .whatever she is. . .he might have some extra insurance on her that even she doesn't know about."

"How does that help us?" Elliot asked with a frown.

With a shake of her head, Olivia huffed out a breath. "It doesn't. And, it won't until tomorrow morning when we can take her back to the station to really dig into Jimmy's operation. I'm sure Amanda and Fin have found a loophole somewhere."

"So, we're sitting ducks at the moment." Elliot stated. They stared at each other, both unhappy with the situation, but knowing they couldn't do much about it now. "Whoever said being a parent was fun never had this problem."

Olivia chuckled softly and nodded with tired eyes. "I'd pray to God no one had our problems." She glanced behind her at the clock, noticing the amount of time that had gone by since they discovered Gemma's buzzing phone. "It's already one. We need to get to bed. All of this will still be here when we wake up." She glanced out at the couch, happy to see Gemma fast asleep with a blanket draped over her body.

Once they had read through Jimmy's messages, they closed all the blinds in the apartment and moved Gemma out to the couch so neither her or Noah would wake up from falling out of the small twin bed in his room. When all their bases had been covered, they resorted to a state of panicking and shock trying to figure out what they could do with a man after their daughter who never left his private residence.

Elliot, frustrated with their lack of a solution, nodded his head in agreement to her conclusion about the rest of the night. Moving towards the recliner, he turned on the living room lamp to start his nightly routine. "I guess I'll see you in the morning then."

Olivia bit her lip, crossing her arms over her chest, as he pulled off his sweats. He was about to sit down in the recliner when she finally spoke without even realizing she was about to say anything. "That chair must be uncomfortable."

"It was the first night. I'm pretty used to it now." Elliot stated, looking up at her. "It's better than the furniture you had in your old place."

Olivia rolled her eyes with a smirk before tilting her head towards her bedroom. "I wouldn't mind if you wanted to sleep in a bed, El. We're both adults. We have a child. I think sleeping next to each other won't break us this soon."

"So, you'll give it a try." Elliot tested the waters, inching closer to her. "You'll give _us_ a try."

"I'll give it a try, but we need to go slow. Like evolution slow." Olivia stated quickly, holding up her hands. "I know we can work as friends and colleagues, but a relationship is a completely different ball game. I don't know if I can handle your cockiness in every aspect of my life."

Elliot smirked and kissed her cheek. "You'll get used to it. May even rub off on you." He tangled his fingers with hers and tugged them towards her room. "C'mon."

* * *

Olivia slid underneath the covers next to Elliot. He was already on his side, eyes drooping from exhaustion. She could feel the burn in her own eyes, the brown orbs begging for sleep to allow them a break. Quickly turning out the light, she tensed when she felt Elliot's hand wrap around her hip. He didn't move any closer to her. He squeezed it reassuringly before letting it drape over her side as if it were the norm.

Despite the unfamiliarity, she didn't want to push it away or even remind Elliot that she wanted to go slow. A hand on the hip wasn't going to automatically lead to anything. She laid down on her side, her back to Elliot as she closed her eyes. As much as they wanted to rest, her brain wouldn't turn off. The last time this man and her shared a bed, she end up pregnant with the title of mistress. The weight of that didn't roll off of her like it had every other damn day before.

"Relax, Liv." Elliot said, his voice groggy. "We're two adults in a relationship. You're in bed with your boyfriend."

Olivia turned over, facing Elliot this time. "You can't say that. We haven't even officially been on a date yet."

Elliot smirked, his eyes still closed. "Yet, I've bought more meals for you than any other person on the planet." He his slowly fluttered open to gaze at her. "It's just me. There's nothing to worry about. I'm not going to jump you in the middle of the night or anything. I'm just happy to sleep next to you and maybe hold you a little bit. I can only do that though if you relax and go to sleep."

"I thought about this, you know." Olivia stated, moving closer to him. She relaxed into the mattress when she could feel his body heat. "Just laying with you."

"Good." Elliot smiled as he closed his eyes again. "I've thought about us doing a lot. This was one of them." He chuckled when Olivia snorted at his comment. Leaning in close, he buried his nose in her hair and kissed her forehead. "Goodnight, Olivia. I love you."

Olivia closed her eyes, feeling his arm wrap around her once more. "I love you too."

* * *

Elliot groaned when he felt a pressure on his arm. Both his arms, actually. He tried to drift back to sleep, but the pressure on his one hard weighed down a little harder. He finally gained some form of consciousness when he heard his name being called.

"Dad?" Gemma whispered, nudging on his arm again. She could feel her hand trembling, but she didn't want to wake up Olivia who was laying halfway on top of him. She hated to ruin their first morning together, but her morning had started out with something too frightening to wait for. "Dad, wake up."

"Gemma?" Elliot asked before his eyes opened. He squinted against the small amount of sunlight that came in through the blinds of the window. He was about to grunt in frustration over being woken up before he saw Gemma. His need for sleep was quickly forgotten when he saw the tears threatening to spill over her eyes. "Gemma, what's wrong? What happened? Are you hurt?"

Gemma shook her head. "No, but I'm going to be." She held out her phone, showing Elliot the messages that he and Olivia had read the night before. "He knows where I am. He knows you two are cops, and he knows I'm completely against him now." Her hand shook with another tremor of her body. "He's going to kill me."

 **Please review! I know it's been a while, but thanks for being patient. I've been busy trying to build up my resume for when I eventually move to Los Angeles.**


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